i695  1895 

3i-  Centennial  y\nniversary 


OF  THE 


PRIBNDS'  MEETING  HOUSE 


ERION. 


dl'    Tiii: 

University  of  California. 

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http://www.arcliive.org/details/bicentennialanniOOmeririch 


IT)!)  5  1805 


BI-CENTENNIAL  ANNIVERSARY 


FRIE^^DS*  MEETIXG  HOUSE 


MERTOX, 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


Philaliflphia : 


:ii:m>s      I!«m»k    association, 

KII-TKKSTH    AM>   BACK   STBEKTS, 


COMMITTEE   OF  ARRANGEMENTS. 
Joseph  W.  Thomas,  Chairman. 


Ellen  D.  Eamsay, 
Samuel  H.  Hibberd, 
Ella  V.  Conard, 
Mary  J,  Walker, 
Benedict  Leedom, 
Ruth  T.  Roberts, 
William  West, 
John  Leedom, 


Joseph  M.  Truman,  Jr. 
Anna  F.  Levick, 
George  W,  Hancock, 
Catharine  Jones, 
Edmund  Allen, 
Laura  Allen, 
William  Fussell, 
Davis  Young, 


Robert  M.  Janney. 


TiiK  subject  of  holding  memorial  exercises  at  the 
Friends'  Meeting  House,  at  Morion,  Pennsylvania,  to 
commemorate  its  erection  in  1605, — two  hundred  years 
ago, — was  brought  before  Radnor  Monthly  Meeting  of 
Friends,  Fourth  month*  11th,  1895,  wherein  it  was 
duly  considered  and  approved.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the 
occasion,  witii  authority  to  add  to  their  numbers. 
With  the  desire  that  both  bodies  of  Friends  should  be 
represented  in  the  work,  an  invitation  was  extended  to 
meml)ers  of  the  other  branch,  and  the  preparation  of 
one  of  the  papers  and  a  poem  assigned  to  them. 

The  celebration  was  held  on  Seventh-day,  Tenth 
mouth  5th,  1895,  which  proved  to  be  a  beautiful 
autumn  day,  and  was  enjoyed  by  the  many  friends 
assembled.  The  peoj)le  liegan  to  gather  several  hours 
before  the  time  appointed  for  tiie  exercises,  to  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  (»f  inspecting  the  meeting- 
house and  the  many  points  of  interest  associated  with 
the  place.  A  large  tent  was  erected  ujxin  the  grounds 
to  accommodate  tiiose  attending  the  exercises.  At  the 
hour  announced,  l.i'.O  p.m.,  an  audience  of  one  thousand 
or  more  persons  had  met  therein.     Shortly  after  fhi< 


hour,  the  Chairman,  Robert  M.  Janney,  called  the 
meeting  to  order,  and  requested  the  observance  of  a 
period  of  silence,  during  which  prayer  was  offered  by 
Rufus  M.  Jones,  which  met  with  response  in  the  hearts 
of  those  present. 

The  programme  as  arranged  by  the  committee  was 
soon  after  entered  upon,  being  introduced  by  an  address 
from  the  Chairman,  which  follows,  with  the  other 
papers  presented. 


INTKODrCTORY    REMARKS. 

RoHEiiT  M.  Janxey,  Chairman. 

If  any  authority  were  needed  for  such  an  ohservauce 
as  this  among  Friends,  I  think  we  have  it  in  the  in- 
iunctiou  :  "Honor  thy  father  and  tliy  mother;  that 
tliy  days  may  be  long  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  givcth  thee." 

In  celebrating  with  simple  yet  sincere  and  appropri- 
ate ceremonies  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
building  of  this  meeting-house,  we  are  desiring  to  honor 
the  fathers  and  mothers  who  founded  it,  as  also  the 
long  line  of  worthies  who,  through  two  centuries,  here 
worshiped  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ;  and  in  so 
honoring  them  I  feel  that  we  are  honoring  ourselves. 

I  trust  that  it  is  with  no  improper  pride  or  spirit  of 
self-laudation  that  we  shall  recount  the  past,  nor  with 
boastful  confidence  that  we  shall  scan  the  future  ;  but 
that,  drawing  inspiration  from  the  one,  we  may  resolve 
to  dedicate  ourselves  with  singleness  of  purpose  to  a 
high  fulfilment  of  the  other.  Helieving  as  we  do  in 
the  beneficent  influences  of  Quakerism  upon  the  world, 
and  that  it  has  a  message  to  the  people  of  to-day,  let 
us  keep  always  before  us  the  simplicity  and  sufficiency 
of  the  faith  of  our  fathers, — "'Mhe  faith  which  was  once 
for  all  delivered  unto  tiie  saints," — tiie  faith  which,  if 
truly  accepted,  concerns  itself  not  bo  much  with  naming 
the  name,  as  with  doing  the  will.  For  hath  not  the 
Master  said :  "  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord, 
Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  he 
that  doeth  tiic  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in   heaven," 


— and  again  :  "  Ye  are  my  friends  if  ye  do  the  things 
which  I  command  you." 

How  much  it  means  to  be  a  Friend  indeed  ! 

Friends,  it  is  a  most  pleasant  privilege  to  welcome 
you  on  the  very  interesting  occasion  which  to-day  has 
drawn  us  as  '*  with  one  accord  in  one  place,"  a  place  so 
fragrant  with  hallowed  memories  and  so  rich  in  sugges- 
tive thought. 

And  there  are  many  here  who  are  not  members  of 
the  Religious  Society  of  Friends,  but  who  gladly  trace 
their  descent  from  an  honored  ancestry  which  once 
worshiped  here,  and  now  sleeps  in  the  quiet  autumn 
sunlight  on  the  hillside  nearby.  Especially  to  these, 
but  most  cordially  to  all,  I  bid  welcome  (using  the 
word  in  its  best  significance)  as  Friends. 


1  IMKNDS-    MEETING    HOUSE   AT    MERION, 
PENNSYEVANIA. 

AN    HISTOKKAI,    SKr,T(MF. 
r.Y    MaIIV    J.  W  A  I, KICK. 

Ai;riit»i  (ill  till'  tirst  experience  and  the  first  settle- 
ments of  Friends  in  America  were  not  in  Pennsylvania, 
yet  in  no  other  part  of  the  New  World  is  the  interest 
of  Friends  and  Friendly  families  so  deeply  seated.  It 
is  their  own  land  and  their  own  home.  Pennsylvania 
was  the  child  of  the  mother  conntry,  protected  by  the 
government  and  sharing  the  friendship   of  the   throne. 

Philadelphia  is  to-day  the  Qnaker  City,  and  thongh 
no  peculiar  religious  sect  now  guards  her  interests,  and 
the  Friendly  garb  is  fast  disappearing  from  her  streets, 
yet  the  inHuence  exerted  by  the  early  Friends  may  still 
be  traced  in  her  institutions  for  the  increase  of  usefnl 
knowledge  and  healthful  pleasures,  and  in  the  upright 
character  of  her  residents.  It  is  surprising  how  many 
individuals,  thongh  members  of  a  different  church,  and 
atViliat«'d  with  interests  opposed  to  the  testimonies  of 
I'ricnds,  eagerly  claim  a  I'^riendly  ancestry. 

In  the  surrounding  country  where  the  old  meeting- 
houses stood  and  still  stand,  though  the  worshipers  in 
them  are  few,  the  Friendly  stamp  on  the  neighborhood 
is  yet  recognised  and  resju'ctcd,  and  much  regret  is  felt 
that  the  old-timi-  simplicity  is  disaj)pcnring. 

Although  desiring  settlers  of  means,  of  honest  pur- 
pose, of  education,  settlers  of  his  own  faith,  William 
Penn  ])ersuaded  no  man  or  woman  to  precede  or  follow 
him  to  his  wilderness.  To  one  iind  all  he  said  :  "  In 
whomsoever  a  desire  is  to  be  concerned  in  this  intended 
plantation,  such  should  weigh  the  thing  before  the  Lord, 
and  not  rashly  conclude  on  any  such  remove,  and  that 
thev  d<»  not  offer  violence  to  the  tender  love  of  their 
Uindnil   and    relations,  i)ut  soberly  and   conscientiously 


endeavor  to  obtain  their  good  wills,  the  nnity  of  Friends 
where  they  live,  that  whether  they  go  or  stay,  it  may  be 
of  good  savor  before  the  Lord,  from  whom  alone  can 
all  Heavenly  and  earthly  blessings  come." 

To  Pennsylvania  as  early  as  1G82  came  the  little 
band  of  pioneers  that  founded  this  meeting. 

In  a  paper  on  the  "  Early  History  of  Merion," 
written  by  Dr.  James  J.  Levick,  we  learn  that  5,000 
acres  of  land  were  purchased  in  1682  of  William  Penn 
by  John  ap  Thomas  and  Edward  Jones  for  themselves, 
and  fifteen  other  Welsh  families.  These  people  had 
been  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  as  preached 
by  George  Fox  and  others  of  the  early  Friends,  and 
were  anxious  to  go  where  they  might  live  as  those 
testimonies  taught,  in  peace.  They  were  land-holders 
and  office-holders  in  their  native  country,  most  of  them 
having  education,  and  a  few  being  persons  of  marked 
ability.  Their  purchase  was  within  the  Welsh  Tract, 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  in  what  is  now  the 
counties  of  Montgomery,  Chester,  and  Delaware,  the 
western  boundary  line  of  West  Chester  being  the  western 
limit  of  the  tract. 

It  was  granted  by  William  Penn  as  an  especial  home 
for  his  persecuted  fellow-worshipers  in  that  small 
mountainous  part  of  English  territory. 

The  love  of  home  in  these  W^elsh  hearts  was  so  great 
that  before  they  consented  to  cross  the  seas,  they  had 
bargained  with  the  Proprietary  for  a  separate  Barony 
of  40,000  acres,  where  they  could  attend  to  all  their 
duties,  both  temporal  and  spiritual,  in  their  own  way 
and  in  their  own  language.  In  this  manner  they  con- 
tinued to  live,  aloof  from  all  municipal  control,  con- 
ducting their  affairs  in  "  Gospel  order  "  for  some  years, 
until  the  best  interests  of  themselves  and  the  surrounding 
country  seemed  to  require  them  to  relinquish  their 
peculiar  rights. 

This  relinquishment  was  only  accomplished  through 
a  stern  sense  of  duty,  and  was  done,  as  Friends  say, 
greatly  in  the  cross.  Griffeth  Owen  and  other  Friends 
made  an   earnest,  dignified    appeal   to   the    authorities 


9 

auainst  the  attempt  to  (U-jirivo  them  of  tlioir  privilej^es, 
c'iini;in«i;  to  tlieir  ri^^lits  as  tlesc-eudants  of  the  "  Ancient 
I^ritons,"  and  oUiiniinfij  that  they  had  been  promised  in 
this  countrv  ri^rhts  of  law  and  hinjz;uat:;e  they  had  enjoyed 
under  the  i-rown  of  Knghmd.  Their  petition  met  with 
no  favor.  William  Penn  had  returned  to  England  to 
struirjile  for  his  rights  and  the  welfare  of  his  eulony, 
his  authority  was  slipping  from  his  grasp,  he  could  no 
longer  proteet  his  friends  according  to  their  desires,  and 
th'.'  Welsh  Tract  was  opened  to  strangers,  though  for 
many  years  there  was  little  iuterferouce  with  their 
clannish  feelings.  Some  of  them  afterwards  held  offices 
of  trust  under  the  government  that  had  so  used  them, 
(iritVeth  Owen  himself  being  for  some  time  a  member 
of  the  Governor's  Council. 

With  fond  hopes  fixed  on  this  far-off  New  Wales, 
the  little  company  of  seventeen  families,  "  in  all  forty, 
set  sail  from  Liverpool  in  the  ship  Lyon,  John  Comp- 
ton,  master,  and  arrived  safely  in  the  Sciiuylkill  River 
the   loth  day  of  ye  Sixth  month,  called  August,  A.D. 

1682." 

A  few  davs  later  Edward  Jones  took  possession  of 
his  share  of  the  purchase,  and  made  the  fii-st  Welsh 
home  in  Merion.  His  descendants  still  hold  title  to  some 
of  the  original  grant,  though  this  was  not,  as  has  been 
claimed,  the  first  British  settlement  made  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. We  have  the  authority  of  Dr.  Smith  for  saying 
that  Robert  Wade  and  his  family  from  England  .settled 
at  Upland  (Chester)  in  1076,  and  were  the  first  members 
of  the  Society  of  Friends  who  located  permanently 
within  the  limits  of  the  Commonwealth. 

The  land  occupied  by  these  passengers  (tn  the  Lyon 
included  the  ground  on  which  was  erected  this  house, 
(and  it  may  bean  earlier  one),  the  building  of  which,  two 
hundred  vears  ago,  we  are  here  to-day  to  commemorate. 

These  families  were  the  founders  of  Merion  Meeting, 
and,  as  was  the  custom  with  the  early  Friends,  until  a 
house  for  sp(x-ial  service  was  ready,  the  homes  of  the 
memlK-rs  were  the  meeting- pi  aces  of  the  Society. 

From    Merionethshire   in    North    Wales  these  early 


10 

settlers  came,  and  like  others  who  had  broken  ties  in 
the  old  world  to  begin  life  again  in  the  new,  they  gave 
the  name  of  the  beloved  homeland  they  had  left  to  w  hat 
they  hoped  to  make  into  a  happier  home  for  themselves 
and  their  children  in  this  far-otf  wilderness.  Merion, 
we  are  told,  is  so  called  from  Merionethshire,  a  county 
of  North  Wales,  named  from  a  prince  who  lived  and 
ruled  there  nearly  a  thousand  years  ago.  From  this 
rugged  part  of  the  old  \A'orld,  where  are  other  names 
reproduced  in  this  locality,  came  these  serious,  trusting 
people.  Persecuted  in  their  own  country,  they  sought 
peace  and  freedom  here,  a  blessing  in  which  they  were 
not  disappointed,  and  w^hich  their  descendants  to  this 
day  enjoy. 

We  are  here  to  day  to  recall  the  good  and  lasting 
work  of  our  Welsh  ancestors,  for  many  of  us  link  our 
kinship  with  these  old  names,  and  can  read  our  own 
family  names  in  the  early  records.  It  is  a  foolish 
pride  that  boa&ts  merely  of  a  long  line  of  ancestry,  but 
if  a  satisfactory  thrill  stirs  our  hearts  at  the  recollection 
that  our  fathers  and  mothers  through  several  genera- 
tions have  been  hearers  and  proclaimers  of  good  words, 
and  practical  examples  of  the  religion  they  taught,  and 
we  are  thus  encouraged  to  press  forw'ard  in  a  similar 
pathway,  that  we  leave  no  stain  on  the  family  and  the 
meeting  record,  then  will  this  preservation  of  family 
and  meeting  history  accomplish  a  good  work  for  the 
future. 

A  difference  of  opinion  exists  as  to  the  exact  time  ot 
the  building  of  this  house,  but  it  is  said  to  have  been 
for  many  years  the  only  house  of  worship  within  the 
present  county  of  Montgomery. 

The  property  was  held  by  the  Society  for  some  years 
by  deeds  in  the  form  of  lease  and  release,  the  first 
actual  deed  being  given  in  1745.  In  1695  a  lot  con- 
taining half  an  acre  was  conveyed  by  Edward  Reese  to 
the  trustees  of  Merion  Preparative  Meeting,  for  grave- 
yard purposes.  Joseph  Tunis  in  1763  donated  a  small 
strip  of  land  adjoining,  for  the  like  use.  In  1801  and 
1804    John  Dickinson  conveyed   to   the  trustees    two 


11 

lots  for  the  use  of  the  incinhiTs  and  lor  the  liravc  yurd, 
adjoining  tho  lattor  an<l  ("xtmdinti;  from  road  to  road. 
A  dwi'llinir-lioiisc  lor  tin-  cari'taktr  of  the  niecting- 
liouse  and  i^ronnds  lias  sinci'  lu'cn  erected  lliereon. 

Joseph  (Teorjre,  .lolui  Georg«'  and  I'Mward  Price,  all 
descendants  of  ancient  settlers,  have  lately  made  liheral 
lHH|uests  tor  the  future  preservation  and  protection  ot 
the  house  and  grounds. 

When  this  huilding  was  erected  there  were  no  puhlie 
highwavs  near  ;  eoniniunication  l)etween  the  homes  and 
places  of  business  and  worship  must  have  been  accord- 
ing to  the  pleasure  and  accommodating  spirit  tif  the 
settlers.  As  early  as  1G78  a  court  at  Chester  had 
ordered  that  every  person  "  as  far  as  his  land  reaches" 
should  make  good  and  passable  "  wayes  "  from  neighbor 
to  neighbor.  A  survey  for  a  road  from  Merion  to 
Radnor  was  eonfirnud  in  1713.  We  also  hear  of  a 
road  from  Merion  meeting  to  Darby  pas-sing  by  Haver- 
ford  meeting-house.  The  old  Conestoga  or  Lancaster 
road,  now  known  as  Montgomery  Avenue  through 
Merion  and  Radnor,  and  passing  this  house,  was  con- 
firmed as  far  as  the  Brandy  wine  in  1721,  though  near 
the  eitv,  probably  from  Merion  to  Phila(leli)hia,  it  had 
been  in  use  much  earlier  than  this.  It  extended  from 
Lancaster  to  the  Schuylkill  River  at  High  Street  ferry. 
Tradition  says  in  the  days  of  the  red  man  it  had  been 
an  Indian  trail.  When  civilization  took  the  place  of 
Indian  customs,  the  traveled  way  was  widened  to  suit 
the  traffic  of  the  new  possessors.  In  17^")  a  road  was 
made  from  I^evering's  ford  on  the  Schuylkill,  connect- 
ing with  the  ohl  Lancaster  road  at  the  north-west 
corner  of  this  property. 

One  of  the  highways  from  Philadelphia  through  this 
section  was  marked  by  mile-stones,  a  few  of  which  still 
stand,  having  on  the  reverse  side  the  coat  of  arms  of 
the  family  of  William  Penn. 

From  the  minutes  kept  by  women  l->iends  we  have 
"eight  shillings  jiaid  for  ehaning  Merion  meeting- 
house, 12th  of  Twelfth  month,  160."),"'  and  for  several 
successive  years  there  is  a  similar  entry. 


12 

While  it  is  true  that  tlie  Monthly  Meetino;  minutes 
say  certain  favors  were  granted  in  1713*  for  finishing 
Merion  meeting-house,  it  is  also  true  that  as  early  as 
1702  the  minutes  of  the  Preparative  Meeting  tell  of 
finishing  and  furnishing  Merion  meeting-house,  of 
providing  hinges,  locks,  shutters  and  benches, — (they 
seemed  desirous  to  "  secure  "  the  meeting-house), — 
and  in  1703  Friends  are  requested  to  pay  their  sub- 
scription towards  building  the  addition  to  the  meeting- 
house. 

"On  the  19th  of  Third  month,  vulgarly  called  May, 
in  the  year  1693,  in  a  solemn  and  public  assembly  in 
their  [Friends']  public  meeting-place  at  Merion  "  was 
solemnized  a  marriage.  May  not  this  "  public  meet- 
ing place  "  have  been  the  temporary  log  structure,  and 
the  present  building  have  been  commenced  in  1695,  as 
the  ancient  stone  in  the  gable  testifies,  and  finally  com- 
pleted in  1713?  That  the  most  of  the  present  building 
was  erected  in  1713  is  evident  from  a  paper  recently 
found  containing  the  names  of  subscribers  and  the 
amounts  contributed  in  that  year  for  building  the 
meeting-house. 

Not  far  away,  by  the  roadside,  on  the  highway  that 
passes  here,  is  a  stone  dwelling-house  of  the  early 
Friends,  a  stone  of  which  is  plainly  marked  1695. 

If  there  was  stone  that  could  be  used  for  that  house, 
may  not  some  in  this  building  be  of  like  antiquity  ? 

Friends  are  a  truthful  people,  and  we  are  unwilling 
to  believe  that  they  would  have  so  misrepresented  their 
work  as  to  proclaim  to  the  passer-by  that  this  house 
was  built  in  1695,  if  it  had  not  been  erected  until  1713. 
As  it  now  stands  it  differs  in  appearance  from  any  other 
ancient  Friends'  meeting-house,  the  smaller  part  being 
attached  to  the  larger  in  such  a  way  as  to  form,  archi- 
tecturally, a  cross.  Small  as  it  is  it  has  evidently  not 
been  all  built  at  the  same  time,  and  the  north  end  bears 
marks  of  the  greater  age. 


♦  Different  authorities  claim  that  the  meetiDg-house  of  1695  was  a  building  of 
logs,  which  was  replaced  by  this  structure  in  1713. 


/ 


13 

The  ciiimnoy  is  in  the  middle  ot"  tla-  Imilditin;,  httwceii 
the  two  parts,  the  passage  tVoin  one  to  the  other  Ijeini^ 
throiiirh  what  was  prol)ahly  at  one  time  an  ojx-n  Hre- 
phue  in  an  outer  wall.  It  lias  heen  enlarged  and 
ehanged  at  diH'erent  times  ;  alterations  liave  bet  n  made 
in  thf  heights  of  the  ceiling  and  upper  gallery.  The 
latter  is  very  curious  and  interesting. 

The  whole  building  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation, 
though  nuuiy  regret  the  modern  j)la&tering  on  the  out- 
side walls  covering  the  original  "  rubble  work  "  and 
pointed  stone.  The  needed  improvement  might  have 
been  done  in  the  form  of  restoration.  On  the  grounds 
are  venerable  trees  and  an  ancient  horse-block,  survivals 
of  the  days  gone  by. 

With  the  existing  evidence  we  feel  we  can  justlv 
claim  that  two  centuries  have  passed  since  the  erection 
of  a  part  of  this  house,  and  that  the  meeting  here  trutii- 
fully  commemorates  that  event. 

With  the  estal)lishment  of  Merion  Meeting  are  closely 
connected  the  names  of  Haverfbrd  and  Schnylkill,  and 
a  little  later  that  of  Radnor,  followed  by  the  Valley, 
tbrming  what  is  known  as  Haverfbrd  or  Radnor 
Monthly  Meeting. 

Tlie  first  Monthly  Meeting  recorded  in  the  minutes, 
still  preserved,  was  held  10th  of  Second  month,  1G84, 
at  Thomas  Duektt's  house  in  Schuylkill  ;  then  tbllowtd 
one  at  John  lievau's  house  in  Havirfbrd,  and  Hugh 
Roberts'  house  in  Merion.  Soon  after  the  first  meeting 
a  committee  was  a|)p<iint(d  to  select  suitable  grounds 
fi)r  burial-pla<'es  near  the  three  meetings.  Of  the  three 
grounds  selected,  those  of  llavertbrd  and  Merion,  with 
additions,  are  still  used  ;  that  of  Schuylkill  has  long  ago 
been  overrun  and  occupied  by  I'hiladelphia's  increasing 
business.  It  was  on  the  Sehuylkiil  front  of  Thomas 
Ducket's  farm,  at  what  is  now  'J'hirty-sect)nd  and  Market 
streets,  and  after  some  time  i>assed  from  the  Society  of 
Friends  into  the  possession  of  strangers.  The  street  at 
the  west  end  of  Market  street  bridge  })asses  through  it, 
all  traces  of  it  having  now  disajipeared.  We  have  no 
knowledge  of  any  meeting-house  ever  being  built  at 
this  place. 


14 

After  1688  any  mention  of  it  in  connection  with 
Haverford  ceases. 

The  minutes  of  Haverford  Monthly  Meeting  from 
the  first  date  are  preserved  in  order  for  more  than  two 
years,  then  occurs  a  blank  of  seven  years,  and  although 
the  record  begins  again  before  the  date  stone  tells  us 
Merion  meeting-house  was  built,  we  can  find  no  men- 
tion of  its  erection,  no  appointment  of  a  committee,  no 
collection  of  funds. 

Oar  friend.  Dr.  George  Smith,  who  was  so  deeply 
interested  in  his  own  meeting  of  Haverford,  as  well  as 
in  all  the  branches  of  Radnor  Monthly  Meeting,  says 
in  his  valuable  History  of  Delaware  County  that  "  there 
are  undoubted  facts  to  show  that  Haverford  meeting- 
house was  erected  in  1688  or  1689."  After  its  erec- 
tion all  Monthly  Meetings  were  held  there.  The  first 
Monthly  Meeting  held  at  Merion  meeting-house  seems 
to  have  been  in  1698. 

The  minute  says  :  "  At  our  Monthly  Meeting  held 
at  Haverford,  the  22d  of  Second  mouth,  1698,  it  is 
concluded  that  the  Monthly  Meeting  for  business  be 
kept  in  course  here,  at  Merion,  and  Radnor."  Later 
still  a  minute  states  "  that  for  the  convenience  ot 
Radnor  Friends  and  those  that  settle  upward,  every 
other  Monthly  Meeting  shall  be  held  at  Haverford." 

Minutes  of  the  women  Friends  of  Haverford,  begin- 
ning in  the  year  1684,  are  still  preserved.  They  con- 
sist principally  of  collections  for  the  relief  of  the  poor, 
and  were  made  mostly  in  measures  of  corn  and  wheat, 
"what  Friends  can  best  spare,"  women  Friends  being 
generally  the  contributors.  The  Query  as  to  poor 
Friends'  necessities  being:  looked  after  and  relief 
afforded,  could  be  truly  answered  in  the  affirmative. 

Whatever  was  needed,  whether  it  was  a  cow,  a  work- 
ing implement,  household  goods,  or  the  loan  of  money, 
was  promptly  furnished,  if  not  by  the  meeting,  then 
by  a  thoughtful,  observant  neighbor.  If  one  family 
was  homeless,  some  one  better  provided  found  vacant 
room  in  his  own  home  for  his  less  favored  fellow- 
member.     The  charity  of  those  days  clasped  the  hand 


16 

closer  tli;in  ihi'  [)liilaiitlin)|)y  oi'tlusc.  "  Xor  was  tlicir 
care  in  these  respects  conHiied  to  their  own  little  coni- 
niunitics.  ^Vhcrcv('r  sull('rin<;  Imniaiiitv  was  lound, 
our  (Quaker  ancestors  were  ever  ready  to  contrilxite  to 
its  relief."  Ilaverford  Monthly  Meetinir  (which  name 
stands  for  this  wliole  Welsh  section)  subscribed  lOO, 
14s.,  lid.  to  the  relief  of  Friends  of  New  Knt^land, 
who  had  lost  their  crops  and  been  molested  bv  the 
Indians. 

John  ap  Thomas,  whose  name  is  most  conspicuous 
in  the  annals  of  Merion,  never  saw  the  land  for  which 
he  nejxotiated  ;  he  died  before  the  arrangem(>nts  for 
eoniini;  to  America  were  completed  ;  but  his  widow, 
Katharine  Thomas,  a  brave  Christian  woman,  with 
her  children,  carried  out  the  family  jdan.  At  her 
house  and  that  of  Hugh  Roberts  took  place  all  marriages 
of  members  in  those  early  days,  to  prepare  for  which 
seems  to  have  been  the  j)rincipal  business  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting.  The  children  of  John  ap  Thomas  took  the 
name  of  John,  or  Jones  ;  they  w-ere  Thomas,  Cadwala- 
^er,  Robert,  and  Katharine  Jones,  the  name  being  thus 
?hanged  after  the  Welsh  custom.  It  is  still  an  honor 
to  the  ancestry  from  which  it  came. 

At  the  house  of  Hugh  Roberts,  which  must  have 
been  near  here,  as  his  land  adjoined  this  land,  on  the 
second  Fifth-day  in  Fourth  niontli,  1084,  was  held  the 
first  meeting  by  Friends  at  ^lerion,  of  which  there 
remains  any  account.  This  was  a  Monthly  Meeting, 
and  no  doubt  the  meetings  for  worship  had  been  regu- 
larly held  earlier  than  this  at  the  same  freely -offered 
home. 

Hugh  lioberts  was,  says  the  "  Early  History  of 
Merion,"  one  of  the  most  useful  of  the  associates  of 
William  Penn  in  his  new  settlement.  His  Welsh  home 
was  in  the  parish  of  Llanvawr,  and  was  known  bv  the 
name  of  C'iltalgirth,  meaning  "  the  corner  at  the  end  ot 
the  hill."  The  old  house  is  now  gone,  but  a  newer 
house  on  the  old  site  commands  one  of  the  finest  views 
in   Merionethshire." 

His  manuscript  journal  says  he  was  the  son  <»f  Robert 


16 

ap  Hugh  of  Llyndewydd  near  Bala,  and  was  born  and 
lived  in  Penllyn,  in  Wales. 

His  first  wife  was  Jane  Owen,  who  died  in  1G86. 
He  afterwards  married  Elizabeth  John,  who  died  in 
1691. 

Hugh  Roberts  died  while  on  a  religious  visit  to  Long 
Island  at  the  house  of  John  Rodman,  Sixth  month 
18th,  1702,  and  says  the  memorial  written  of  him, 
"  on  the  20th  was  interred  at  Merion,  after  which  a 
large  meeting  was  held,  wherein  the  Lord's  presence 
was  sweetly  enjoyed,  and  several  living  testimonies 
borne  concerning  his  faithfulness  to  God  and  satisfaction 
of  his  eternal  well-being." 

His  descendants  are  among  Philadelphia's  most 
useful  and  respected  citizens. 

A  certificate  from  his  home  meeting  was  furnished 
him  and  his  wife  on  their  first  coming  to  America  in 
1683,  wherein  it  is  stated  that  "  he  is  one  that  hath 
both  owned  and  received  ye  trueth  for  these  fourteen 
years  past,  and  walked  since  blameless  in  conversation 
and  serviceable  in  his  place  upon  all  accounts,  according 
to  his  talents.  His  wife  likewise  likeminded  walking 
in  the  trueth  and  a  good  example  to  others."  A  letter 
appreciative  of  his  ministry  and  service  was  given  to 
him  at  the  close  of  a  visit  to  his  native  land  in  1690. 
It  also  certifies  to  the  merits  of  his  "dear  wife 
Elizabeth,"  and  desires  that  they  and  their  children 
"shall  be  under  the  divine  hand  of  providence,  who 
ruleth  the  winds  and  commandeth  the  sea  at  his 
pleasure." 

He  must  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  at  least  once  again 
on  a  religious  visit,  for  his  journal  says  :  "  In  the  year 
1697  the  15th  day  of  Twelfth  month,  I  set  from  home 
to  visit  Friends  in  England  and  Wales."  Several 
Friends  accompanied  him.  They  took  ship  at  the  mouth 
of  James  river,  "  where  ye  fleet  met,  and  stayed  on  board 
fifteen  days  before  we  sailed,  and  had  several  meetings 
from  ship  to  ship,  to  ye  great  comfort  and  satisfaction 
of  our  souls,  and  upon  ye  7th  day  of  ye  Third  month, 
we  sailed  out  of  ye  capes  of  Virginia. 


"Upon  VI'  1  Uli  day  of  yr  Fuiirtli  inoiitli  w«'  struck 
grouiKl  at  ei|:;hty-riv('  t'atlionis  wator.  On  yv  ITlli  day 
we  saw  ye  land  of  old  England,  and  on  ye  "J'id  of  ye 
said  month  we  arrived  at  IMymoutli." 

Shortly  after  his  death  a  h»ving  testimony  was  written 
eoncerning  his  life  and  labors  hy  his  friend  John  IJevan, 
whieh  is  still  kept  iu  the  records  of  the  meeting. 

Hugh  Roberts's  mother  died  in  lODU,  and  is  buried 
in  the  grave-yard  at  Merion.  A  testimony  concerning 
her  is  written  by  her  son  in  his  journal. 

Amongst  his  pai)ers  are  some  in  the  Welsh  language, 
both  prose  and  poetry.  Manuserij)t  scraps  of  Welsh 
poetry  are  also  preserved  by  the  descendants  of  Edward 
Reese.  These  have  been  literally  translated  for  the 
])leasure  of  their  interested  and  curious  possessors. 

Haverford  Monthly  Meeting  had  maintained  a 
direct  correspondence  with  the  Yearly  Meeting  of 
Wales.  Ellis  Pugh,  a  Welsh  preacher,  settled  first  at 
Radnor  and  afterwards  at  Plymouth.  Pie  paid  a 
religious  visit  to  his  native  land  in  1707,  and  upon  his 
return  a  concern  came  upon  him  to  write  a  book,  "  To 
direct  the  unlearned  Britons  of  low  degree  to  know 
God,  and  Christ,  the  life  eternal."  Haverford  and 
Tiwynedd  united  to  pul)lish  this  Welsh  book,  and  after 
being  carefully  examined  and  approved,  it  was  formally 
recommended  to  the  "  overseers  of  the  press  "  at  Phila- 
delphia. Meeting  with  their  aj)proval.  it  was  published 
under  the  authority  of  the  (Quarterly  Meeting.  It  is 
doubtless  the  earliest  book  in  the  Wt'lsh  language 
published  in  America.  It  was  afterwards  translated 
into  English  bv  Rowland  Ellis,  and  so  re-published  in 
1727. 

h^ihvard  ap  Reese,  who  gave,  or  sold  for  a  nominal 
sum,  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  the  ground  on  which 
Meriou  meeting-house  stands,  was  born  in  Wales  in 
1046,  and  died  at  Merion  in  1728.  He  was  one  of  the 
seventeen  who  came  with  their  families  in  the  ship 
Lyon.  He  was  twice  marric<l.  His  first  wife  died  in 
16U0,  leaving  several  children,  one  of  whom  was  born 
in  a  stone  hut  on   the  Schuylkill   bank   in  l'')8o.      His 


18 


t-ecoud  wife  was  Rebecca  Huiuphreys,  whose  father  aud 
mother,  Samuel  Humphreys  and  Elizabeth  E,eese,  were 
married  in  Wales  before  two  Justices  of  the  Peace, 
Morris  Wynne  aud  Robert  Owen,  "  ye  20th  day  of 
April  1658,  "  which  is  one  of  the  earliest,  if  not  the 
first  marriage  on  record,  performed  without  the  aid  ot 
a  priest.  Samuel  Humphreys  died  in  Wales,  but  his 
wife  and  children  came  to  Pennsylvania,  where  their 
descendants  still  live. 

His  great-grandson,  Joshua  Humphreys,  may.  Dr. 
Smith  says,  be  considered  the  father  of  the  American 
Navy. 

Edward  Reese  was  an  acceptable  minister  of  the 
Gospel  amongst  his  people,  and  gave  liis  message  to 
them  in  the  Welsh  language.  He  made  a  religious 
visit  to  his  native  land  in  1721,  bringing  with  him  on 
his  return  a  certificate  of  welcome  service  beyond  the 
sea.  In  his  will  is  a  bequest  of  ten  pounds  towards 
building  a  wall  for  the  graveyard.  By  deed  in  1747 
land  for  a  school-house  near  the  meeting  was  transferred 
to  trustees  by  a  sou  of  Edward  Reese  for  the  sum  of 
five  shillings,  an  amount  probably  never  paid,  being 
named  only  to  make  the  title  good.  The  name  Reese 
was  changed  in  the  second  generation  to  Preece,  and 
later  to  Price,  the  first  family  name  in  this  country 
being  still  used  by  the  descendants  as  a  Christian  name. 

The  last  marriage  that  occurred  in  Merion  Meeting- 
house was  that  of  Benjamin  Huut  and  Esther  Price, 
Tenth  month  16th,  1834.  Esther  Price  Huut  is  a 
descendant  of  Edward  Reese,  and  is  still  living. 

During  the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution  the  Welsh 
Friends  of  this  section  were  included  in  the  general 
suffering.  Between  the  two  contending  armies  their 
goods  and  money  were  taken  for  the  support  of  both. 

Cornwallis's  army,  as  well  as  that  of  General  Wash- 
ington, are  named  in  our  record  books  as  taking  at 
their  need  the  property  of  our  meuibers. 

The  meeting  kept  a  partial  list  of  the  damage  done 
as  the  cases  were  reported  by  the  sufferers,  that  the  loss 
might  be  equally  shared  by  the  Society.     Two  of  their 


19 

inocting-lioust'S,  Kndnor  ;iih1  the  N'allcy,  were  (tcciipicd 
1)V  the  AtiKM'ican  soldiers,  citlu'r  as  lidspifals  or  olliccrs' 
(|iiartrrs. 

riaiiicd  airainst  Ix'arinjj;  ai'ins  and  slicddiiin;  a  hrntli- 
(t's  1)1(1(1(1,  tlu'v  son^lit  in  tlic  main  to  avoid  the  strife, 
tlioiiirli  tiu'ir  sympathies  were  mostly  with  the  struggling 
colonists.  Many  of  their  youthfid  nicmhers  disregarded 
the  teachings  of  the  Society,  and  enlisted  or  otlif rwise 
assisted  the  cause.  Especially  was  this  the  ease  while 
the  American  army  was  in  the  neighhorhood.  Irving, 
in  his"  Life  of  Washington,"  says  a  niunher  of  yonng 
Friends  joined  the  patriots  belore  they  left  Valley 
Forge.  The  cases  of  such  were  laid  before  the  meet- 
ing, and  as  they  had  violated  the  testimonies  of  Friends, 
many  memljershi})s  were  tluis  forfeited. 

We  are  told  that  many  members  of  the  Society  of 
Fri<  nds,  ''  and  among  them  men  of  higli  repute  for 
their  intelligence,  took  an  active  i)art  in  ()])posing  the 
arbitrary  measures  of  the  mother  country."  General 
Anthony  Wayne  was  of  Friendly  connection,  and  dur- 
ing the  stay  of  the  army  at  Valley  Forge  was  quartered 
with  his  kinsman,  who  with  his  wife  were  prominent 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends. 

His  intercourse  with  Friends,  as  an  officer  of  the 
armv,  was  satisfactory  and  just,  so  far  as  the  state  of 
the  times  admitted,  and  has  l)een  pleasantly  remembered 
bv  his  posterity  and  theirs. 

.Vlmost  all  of  the  Friends  from  abroad  who  visited 
America  under  a  religious  concern  have  held  meetings 
in  this  old  house.  ^\'illiam  Penn  undoubtedly  spoke 
to  his  Welsh  I'Viends  collected  for  Divine  worship  on 
this  spot,  if  not  within  these  walls,  though  traditi(m 
says  many  of  his  hearers  were  unable  to  understand 
the  sermon  which  he  j^reached.  John  Fothergill  makes 
note  of  a  meeting  here  in  1727,  "  where  a  large  num- 
l)er  were  gathered,  and  the  blessed  (losju'l  testimony 
and  humbling  power  greatly  prevailtd  that  day." 
John  Churchman  tells  of  uoing  to  Merion,  "  where  we 
met  our  worthy  friend  John  Fothergill,  who  had  great 
and  good  service  therein."      In  hi-  tuiiiistry  among  the 


20 

Welsh  settlers  here,  Rowland  Ellis  often  acted  as  his 
interpreter. 

Thomas  Chalkley,  of  Philadelphia,  who  traveled 
back  and  forth  in  the  cause  of  truth  continually  through 
his  own  country  and  beyond  it,  held  a  meeting  at 
Merion  in  1724,  which  was  large  and  satisfactory. 

Again  in  1737  he  was  there,  he  says,  *'  at  the  funeral 
of  Edward  Jones,  aged  92,  one  of  the  first  settlers,  a 
man  given  to  hospitality,  a  lover  of  good  and  virtuous 
people,  and  was  likewise  beloved  by  them.  There  were 
many  hundreds  of  people  at  his  funeral." 

Job  kScott  in  1787  says:  ''We  had  a  meeting  at 
Radnor  and  one  at  Merion,  both  heavy,  laborious  sea- 
sons for  some  time,  but  Truth  rose  into  some  dominion, 
especially  in  the  latter,  which  on  the  whole  proved  a 
good  and  refreshing  season,  and  ended  in  the  savor  of 
life." 

John  Woolman  also  attended  Merion  Meeting  in 
1758. 

Robert  Sutcliif  from  England,  while  on  business  in 
America,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  so- 
journed at  Merion,  and  wrote  of  his  stay  while  there. 
In  1805  he  says  :  "A  couple  about  to  be  married  there, 
desiring  the  event  to  take  place  on  Fifth,  instead  of 
Sixth-day,  were  so  accommodated,  and  the  alteration 
being  eligible  for  a  continuance,  the  day  for  mid-week 
meeting  was  thus  changed." 

He  speaks  of  a  Friend  living  at  Merion,  whose  sis- 
ter told  him  that  on  William  Penn's  arrival  in  America 
he  lodged  there  with  her  great-grandfather,  and  that 
her  grandfather,  a  boy  about  twelve  years  old,  curious 
to  see  as  much  as  possible  of  so  distimjuished  a  guest, 
"  crept  to  the  chamber  door.  On  peeping  through  the 
latchet  hole  he  was  struck  with  awe  in  beholding  this 
great  man  upon  his  knees,  and  could  distinctly  hear  him 
in  prayer  and  thanksiriviug,  that  he  had  thus  been  j)ro- 
vided  for  in  the  wilderness."  * 


*  Since  writing  this  paper  we  have  learned  that  this  incident  may  be  found 
in  Watson's  "Annals,"  and  is  there  told  as  having  occurred  at  Gwynedd. 
Thomas  Evans  was  a  great-grandfather  to  Susan  Jones  Nancarro,  who  related 
the  above  facts  to  John  F.  Watson  as  having  taken  place  there,  at  the  house  of 
her  great-grandfather. 


21 

Within  the  nu'inory  of  the  present  generation,  Ann 
Jackson,  a  descendant  of  Edward  Reese,  was  a  heloved 
Friend  and  minister  at  Merion,  and  lier  son,  Stephen 
Pa-chall,  gave  good  and  welcome  eonnsel  from  the 
gallery  seat. 

The  former  is  hnried  at  West  Chester ;  the  latter  in 
the  adjoining  yard. 

Later  Aaron  Roberts  came  to  reside  near,  and 
attended  this  meeting. 

His  wife,  a  lovely  "  girl  woman,"  as  she  is  described, 
soon  felt  called  to  proclaim  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  to 
the  grateful  remembrance  of  those  who  heard  her. 

Since  their  removal  from  the  neighborhood,  the 
Friends  who  remained  have  mostly  s|)ent  the  hour  for 
worship  in  silence,  but  the  faithful  still  live  ;  one  aged 
man,  deprived  of  his  hearing,  and  otherwise  a  sufferer, 
is  still  a  regular,  and  sometimes  the  only  attender  from 
a  distance  here. 

Years  ago,  when  the  nation  was  sorrow-stricken  and 
mourning  for  the  fall  of  its  leader,  a  Friend  yearning 
for  expression  of  sympathy  such  as  religion  alone  can 
give,  would  have  sought  it  in  the  church,  but  was 
directed  here,  where  an  afternoon  meeting  was  to  be 
held. 

Our  friend,  George  Truman,  was  among  those  assem- 
bled, and  moved  by  the  deep  grief  that  shadowed  the 
land,  gave  forth  to  the  gathered  throng  such  an  out- 
pouring of  eloquent  sorrow  in  words  of  hope  and  faith 
as  are  still  rememl>ered  by  those  who  heard  him,  and 
the  Friend  returned  to  her  home  comforted  and  satisfie<l. 

A  stranger,  writing  <»f  another  alternoon  meeting 
here,  savs  of  a  ministering  Friend  :  "  All  who  listened 
agree  in  saving  he  had  the  sweetest  voice  that  ever 
addressed  a  congregation."  For  such  ministrations 
through  the  many  years,  and  for  those  whose  graves 
have  l)e«n  made  near  by,  is  Merioii  Meetiiig-hous«'  en- 
deared to  the  Society  of  Friends,  endearcnl  to  this  neigh- 
borhood, and  to  nil  who  love  the  relics  of  an  hont)rable 
past. 

Conspicuous  in   meeting  affairs  in  a  by-gone  genera- 


22 


tion  were  the  Bowmans.  Roger  Bowman,  the  first  of 
the  name  in  America,  was  born  in  Derbyshire,  Eng- 
land, where  the  family  had  lived  since  1602. 

In  one  corner  of  their  family  estate  is  a  group  of  fine 
old  ash  trees,  and  under  their  branches  was  built  in 
George  Fox's  time  one  of  the  first  Friends'  meeting- 
houses in  England,  which  still  exists.  When  the  seat 
of  our  government  was  at  Philadelphia,  Roger  Bow- 
man lived  near  President  Washington,  whom  he  always 
called  "  George."  Though  ever  watchful  of  the  natiou's 
honor,  Washington  respected  the  conscientious  principle 
that  led  to  such  a  familiarity,  and  the  two  became  good 
friends  and  neighbors. 

Descended  from  the  earliest  settlers,  and  closely  con- 
nected with  this  house,  loving  it  and  its  interests,  was 
the  George  family.  Like  so  many  other  families  of 
Friends,  this  one  was  divided  when  the  Separation,  now 
so  much  regretted  by  many  members  of  both  branches 
of  the  Society,  occurred,  and  like  most  of  them  so 
divided,  the  ties  of  blood  were  stronger  than  the  differ- 
ence of  religious  opinion,  and  love  unchanged  lived  in 
their  hearts,  though  the  divided  household  worshipped 
in  separate  houses. 

That  branch  of  the  family  that  remained  with  the 
members  here,  were  regular  attenders  both  of  business 
and  other  meetings,  until  the  friends  and  neighbors  of 
their  faith  passed  away  by  death  or  removal,  and  they 
were  left  almost  the  remnant  here,  but  faithful  to  their 
inherited  trust  and  to  their  own  sense  of  duty,  they 
rarely  missed  a  meeting,  though  sometimes  uo  other 
members  met  with  them. 

One  by  one  they  too  were  called  from  labor  here, 
until  a  few  years  since  the  last  one  was  laid  to  rest 
beside  his  kindred  in  the  adjoining  yard,  and  the  greater 
part  of  his  large  property  passed  by  his  bequest  into 
the  Society  of  Friends,  to  establish  an  advanced  school 
for  the  benefit  of  those  of  its  members  who  had  not 
been  so  blessed  as  he  in  earthly  possessions.  This  be- 
quest is  now  doing  good  service  under  the  name  of  the 
George  School. 


23 

Of  those  who  rctainul  tlioir  mcnibcrshii)  with  what 
is  known  us  the  Orthodox  branch  of  the  Society,  Jesse 
Georjje  and  his  sister  Rel)e<rca  are  will  known  as  Phila- 
delphia's benefactors.  The  valuable  contribution  to 
Fairnionnt  I*ark,  known  as  George's  Hill,  was  their 
gift,  and  many  public;  charities  liave  benelited  by  their 
liberal  bounty.  As  they  sympathized  with  the  needy 
whom  they  knew  not,  so  their  gentle  love  was  round 
about  their  kindred,  their  friends,  and  all  with  whom 
they  mingled.  One  whose  life  had  been  s]ient  in  loving 
service  to  them,  asked  as  a  favor  to  be  laid  in  death  at 
their  feet,  a  wish  we  iielievethat  unforeseen  circumstances 
prevented  being  gratified. 

All  of  the  George  family  are  buried  at  Merion. 

There  are  other  honorable  households  in  this  locality 
that  trace  their  ancestry  to  the  purchasers  of  the  land 
from  William  Penn.  There  are  families  of  this  neigh- 
borhood wfll  known  for  their  ability  in  the  business  of 
life,  that  possess  marriage  certificates  and  other  records 
closely  connected  with  the  iiistory  of  this  meeting- 
house, but  for  many  years  their  names  have  been  miss- 
ing from  the  list  of  its  meml)ers,  and  those  who  perform 
the  j)resent  work  of  the  Society  of  Friends  within  this 
Monthly  Meeting  know  little  of  them. 

Great  have  been  the  changes  the  two  hundred  years 
have  wrought.  Where  was  for  our  predecessors  toil 
and  privation,  is  now  a|>parent  ease  and  prosperity. 
Yet  let  us  not  be  unmindful  that  luxury  has  ever  been 
an  opportunity  for  corruption,  and  boast  not  too  much 
that  the  present  age  is  such  an  inijirovement  on  the 
past. 

At  another  ancient  me<'tiug-hoiisc,  in  the  hush  of  an 
autumn  twilight,  I  hear  again  in  recollection  the  soft, 
sweet  voice  of  Deborah  Wharton,  repeating  the  words 
of  the  Master  she  so  earnestly  worked  to  serve  :  "  In 
this  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation,  but  in  me  ye  shall 
have  peace."  We,  too,  if  we  live  the  same  lives  of 
patient  suffering,  of  self-denial,  of  Christian  charity, 
and  of  brotherly  love,  as  did  .so  many  of  those  who 
first  turned  their  hearts  to  God   l)eneath  this  roof,  will 


24 

be  an  example  to  those  who,  two  himdred  years  hence, 
may  be  battling  with  the  evils  of  their  day  and  genera- 
tion. We  have  but  to  live  by  the  same  faith  and  seek 
for  the  same  grace  that  made  the  religion  of  our  fore- 
fathers.    It  was  their  salvation,  and  it  may  be  ours. 

In  the  records  of  human  greatness  there  are  few  ex- 
amples more  worthy  of  our  study  and  imitation  than 
that  of  William  Penn,  the  Friend,  the  founder  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Two  hundred  years  have  passed  since  he  labored  for 
the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men,  and  walked  humbly  in 
obedience  to  the  voice  of  his  Heavenly  Father.  To-day 
his  name  and  memory  are  respected  and  honored  in 
every  civilized  land. 

His  life  was  largely  made  up  of  anxiety,  sorrow,  and 
suffering,  yet  trusting  and  resigned  through  all  trials, 
we  mav  see  in  his  experience  something  of  the  truth 
and  beauty  of  the  M^arning  he  gave  to  his  people  : 

"  No  Cross,  no  Crown." 


\.C*'j  ^      Oar 


26 


r()E>r. 

By  .lAMh>  r..  W.M.KKi:,  M.D. 

Stay,  Time,  thy  rapid,  ceaseless  flight. 

While  we  recall  two  centiiric.-s  of  thine, 
And  those  who  bravely  striiirgled  tor  the  right, 

About  this  modest,  friendly,  wayside  shrine  ! 
Thou  art  called  cruel,  ruthless  Time,  by  some, 

Stern  Reaper,  "ever  with  the  glass  and  scythe;  " 
A  heartless  wrecker,  conscienceless  and  dumb. 

Before  whom  mortals  e'er  despairing  writhe! 
'Tis  said  thou  touchest  monuments  that  mark  the  great 

Only  to  level  them  in  crumbling  dust ; 
A  spoiler,  fierce  and  inconsiderate, 

Unmerciful,  unbridled,  and  unjust! 

Not  so,  we  deem  thee,  kind  old  Father  Time ; 

A  leveler  thou,  but  leveling  to  the  right ! 
Virtue  and  Justice,  in  their  course  sublime, 

Find  thee  a  master-builder  in  thy  might ! 
Full  gently  hast  thou  dealt  with  this  old  home. 

Where  on  the  First-day  and  amid-week  too, 
Long  lines  of  generations  here  have  come. 

To  show  the  world  their  faith,  their  strength  renew. 

When  Might  was  right,  and  Force  was  law. 

And  the  powers  that  ruled  were  Strife  and  (ireed, 
When  Church  'gainst  ('hurch  their  forces  draw, 

And  religious  fervor  meant  zeal  for  creed  ; 
When  the  "  Head  of  the  Church,"  or  Pope  or  King, 

Knew  naught  of  the  power  of  Love  to  bless  ; 
But  the  torments  of  hell  serve  their  purpose  well 

For  all  who  a  different  creed  confess  ; 
In  this  seething  cauldron  of  hate  and  strife, 

With  devotion  dwindle<l  to  barren  form, 
A  man  arose,  in  the  strength  of  life, 

With  an  olive  branch  in  the  scathing  storm  ! 

No  creed  he  clamored,  nor  outward  form. 
No  blinding  dogma,  the  truth  to  blight. 

But  he  sought  to  lead  his  fellow-men 

From  the  outward  forms  to  the  Inner  Light! 


26 


"A  spirit  there  is  in  man,"  lie  cried, 

"  Which  the  inspiration  from  God  on  high 
Without  assistance  from  man  or  creed 

Giveth  understanding  abundantly. 
A  still,  small  voice,  this  Inner  Light, 

Enlighteneth  Christian,  Pagan,  or  Jew, 
Leads  the  humblest  soul  from  the  darkest  night 

To  the  light  of  God  and  his  blessings  too  !  " 
He  called  from  the  prevalent  war  of  creeds 

Unto  Love,  religion's  severest  test, 
For  though  Hope  and  Faith  are  daily  needs. 

Love  shineth  ever,  brightest  and  best. 

His  voice  found  echo  'mong  low  and  high  ; 

Right  reason  the  hearts  of  many  blends, 
And  the  gathering  band,  clasping  hand  in  hand, 

Take  upon  them  the  hallowed  name  of  Friends. 

They  have  helped  to  lift  from  the  dust  their  race. 

Teaching  man  is  a  child  of  God,  not  of  sin  ; 
That  God  is  a  Father  whose  loving  face 

Never  turns  to  hate  for  His  human  kin  ! 
Nor  the  stinging  lash,  nor  the  dungeon  dark 

Could  cool  their  enkindled  fire  of  love  ; 
Nor  the  brutal  laws  by  tyrants  made 

Could  make  them  false  to  their  conscience  prove ! 

But  the  merciless  storm  of  hate,  at  last 

Has  driven  some,  amid  great  distress, 
From  the  land  of  their  sires  and  altar  fires, 

In  search  of  Peace,  to  the  wilderness. 
Penn's  Sylvan  woods  a  haven  prove, 

Though  the  foi-est  is  dense  where  the  savage  lurks 
But  the  peace  of  God  has  hallowed  the  sod 

As  their  simple  doctrine  a  miracle  works! 
For  the  savage  foe  is  transformed  a  friend, 

And  the  Treaty  of  Penn,  nor  sealed  nor  signed. 
Is  made  to  stand,  throughout  Penn's  land, 

Unbroken,  though  never  an  oath  to  bind. 

Here  brought  they  their  all  to  stand  or  fall  ; 

Here  built  they  hearths  and  homes  anew  ; 
Here  lived  they  their  creed  in  word  or  deed, 

"To  others  do  as  you'd  have  them  do." 
Their  conscience,  God's  supremest  gift. 

They  prove  their  faith  in  the  "  old,  old  story," 


27 


That  out  of  the  (larkncss  iiaii^'Iit  can  lift 

But  the  "Christ  within,  the  Hope  of  (ilory  !  " 
This  house  they  builded  of  wood  and  stone, 

Whieh  their  faithful  live.s  have  consecrated, 
As  here  they  humbly  sought  the  throne 

Of  Grace,  that  tliey  be  rejuvenated. 
No  spires  toward  Heaven  its  roof  <i<)  mark, 

For  the  aspirations  of  its  j)eople 
Were  reachini;  God-ward  in  liglit  and  dark 

And  needed  no  heavenward-pointing  steeple. 

Old  meeting-house,  so  plain  and  quaint, 

Devoid  of  lofty  spire  or  dome. 
Here  many  a  household's  hallowed  saint 

Sought  grace  divine  for  u.se  at  home  ! 
The  shadows  are  soothing  on  thy  lawn, 

Thy  very  atmosphere  is  ])eace, 
And  the  silence  creeping  our  hearts  upon. 

Bids  doubt  and  discord  and  rancor  cease. 
The  hanilsthat  built  tliee,  heads  that  planned. 

And  hearts  that  thee  have  consecrated. 
Long  since  their  human  lives  have  spanned, 

Their  dust  to  earth,  their  souls  translated  ! 

They  builded  well  this  meeting-house, 

But,  better  still,  their  daily  record 
Of  lives  which  Ifight  and  Truth  espouse ; 

No  evil  stain  their  pages  checkered  I 
We  praise  them  for  their  earnestness 

In  all  that  counts  for  man's  improving  ; 
Their  honest  faith,  with  special  stress 

On  (jod's  omt)ip()tence  in  loving  I 
We  bless  them  that  the  "  wrath  of  God  " 

Was  seen  to  be  of  man's  invention  ; 
( )ur  sinning  cloudeth  not  His  face 

But  blinds  our  human  comprehension. 
No  need  for  priest  to  shrive  or  bless. 

Nor  complex  scheme  for  man's  salvation  ; 
Down,  to  man's  utmost  lowliness, 

Reaches  God's  hand  in  restoration  ! 

Here,  plainly  bonneted  and  gowned, 

With  faces  saintly,  sweet,  and  j)ure, 
Have  calmly  sat  the  sea.^ons  round. 

Spreading  an  incense  heaven-born,  sure, 
Those  mothers  of  our  Israel, 

Who  nurtured  us  through  childhood's  prattle, 


28 


And  saved  our  manhood's  wandering  feet 

From  many  a  snare  in  life's  rude  battle ! 
Their  memories  linger  in  our  lives, 

The  halo  deepening  round  their  faces  ; 
We  see  them  as  we  meet  to-day, 

All  in  their  once  familiar  places. 
We've  love  for  all  the  human  race, 

Believing  all  mankind  are  brothers. 
And  can't  help  wishing  all  had  had 

Like  us,  good,  old-time,  Quaker  mothers  ! 

Old  meeting-house,  so  quiet  thou. 

Some  think  thy  silence  of  the  tomb  ; 
Seeing  but  darkness  gathering  now, 

With  bowed  heads  they  await  the  doom. 
But  unto  us  thy  silence  breathes 

A  "  peace  that  passeth  understanding  "  ; 
Thy  countless  hallowed  memories, 

To  active,  earnest  life  commanding. 
Thou  speak'st  of  "  swords  to  plowshares  turned," 

Of  war's  rude  blasts  and  visions  gory 
Transformed  to  nobler  voice  of  "  Peace, 

Good  will,"  the  near  forgotten  story  ; 
Of  savage  warrior,  robbed  of  hate, 

His  knife  in  sheath,  his  hatchet  rusted  ; 
Of  Treaty  kept  inviolate. 

As  each  the  other  fully  trusted  ; 
Of  voices  raised  in  Freedom's  cause, 

To  W'hich  'twere  treason  e'en  to  barken, — 
Brave  cries  against  inhuman  laws, 

Which  once  our  nation's  fair  face  darken. 

What  though  the  numbers  gathering  here, 

Are  growing  fewer  still  and  fewer, 
The  influence  started  at  this  source 

Is  spreading  outward,  onward,  sure  ! 

Nothing  that's  good  shall  perish.     Out, 

In  circles  spreading  far  and  wide, 
The  grace  extends,  till  reaching  all. 

Naught  human  will  be  found  outside. 
The  nations  cry  for  peace.     War's  realm 

Is  yearly  growing  small  and  smaller. 
While  Peace,  sometime  a  suppliant  child, 

Is  growing  manlier  and  taller! 
Its  day  is  dawning  gloriously, 

And  the  old  earth,  its  lessons  learning, 


29 


Is  less  and  less  in  creeds  concerned, 

And  more  for  righteous  fruit  is  yenrninu 
Black  uii^ht  is  vanisiiini,' !     The  sun, 

A  brilliant  globe  of  light,  is  rising, 
Its  flood  is  streaming  onward,  vast 

Enough  for  all  the  worM's  l)aj)ti/,ing ! 
The  creeds  less  rigid   are  ;  man-made, 

In  times  when  Light  was  showing  dini, 
Thev  bind  like  burial  cerements, 

And  burst  they  must  on  growing  limb! 

Let  us  not  grieve  if  numbers  fail 

To  fill  the  old  familiar  benches. 
They  have  not  gone  "  without  the  veil," 

But  find  good  work  in  other  trenches. 
What  though  our  sect  may  dwindle  more. 

One  fact  should  make  us  much  amends. 
The  best  of  men,  in  all  the  creeds, 

Are  clasping  hands  as  earned  frieii(l-<  ! 


30 


WHAT  THE  FRIEND  HAS  DONE  IN  THE 
PAST. 

By  Allen  C.  Thomas. 

It  is  fitting  that  men  and  communities  should  at 
times  review  past  years,  and  ask  of  them  what  message 
they  bring  of  encouragement,  of  warning,  of  teaching, 
or  of  strength.  It  is  with  no  feelings  of  pride  or  of 
laudation  that  we  look  back  to-day  at  the  work  of  our 
fathers  to  glance  at  what  they  have  done  ;  but  it  is  to 
bring  before  us  in  grateful  remembrance  their  faith, 
their  earnestness,  and  their  devotion  to  principle  and 
to  the  everlasting  truth. 

Two  hundred  years  ago,  except  in  Holland,  there 
was  little  or  no  religious  liberty  in  Europe  ;  toleration 
was  almost  unheard  of,  freedom  of  thought,  of  con- 
science, of  worship,  and  of  doctrine  was  held  by  many 
to  be  absolutely  wrong.  Retaliation  was  considered  to 
be  the  chief  end  in  punishment — an  eye  for  an  eye,  a 
tooth  for  a  tooth  being  the  standard — and  punishment 
itself  was  terribly  severe  ;  prisons  the  world  over  were 
sinks  of  iniquity  and  vice,  and  foul  beyond  description 
from  the  total  lack  of  sanitary  care.  Slavery  was  held 
to  be  lawful,  and  good  men  had  no  hesitation  at  engag- 
ing in  the  slave  trade  or  of  receiving  profit  from  the 
dreadful  traffic.  Ordinary  buying  and  selling  was  a 
continual  straggle  between  buyer  and  seller  to  see  which 
could  get  the  advantage  of  the  other.  During  the  latter 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  particularly  in  Eng- 
land, society  was  luxurious,  artificial,  and  conventional; 
laws  were  cumbrous,  justice  was  too  often  perverted, 
juries  venial,  and  judges  arbitrary.  As  between  nation 
and  nation,  war  was,  if  not  the  normal  condition,  at 
least  of  frequent  occurrence,  while  but  very  few  indi- 
viduals questioned,  even  in  the  abstract,  the  lawfulness 


31 

of  war  for  the  Christian.  A  careful  student  of  the 
aj^e  cannot  fail  to  l)e  struck  with  the  high  position 
which  was  accor(le<l  to  authority  in  Church  and  State 
and  in  social  life.  Outward  standards  of  life  and 
practice,  particularly  in  church  all'airs,  were  set  up,  to 
which  every  one  was  expected,  and,  whenever  practica- 
l)lc,  forced  to  conform,  Knglishmen  had  been  restive 
under  this  rule  and  rebelled.  Some  few  separated  from 
Church  and  State  and  betook  themselves  in  a  sad  pil- 
grimage to  Holland,  and  thence  to  America.  Others 
were  successful  for  a  time  in  purifying  the  outward 
ceremony  of  worship,  and  also  in  driving  from  the 
English  throne  a  king  who  finally  sealed  his  belief  in 
authority  with  his  blood.  But  still  the  lu'lief  in  author- 
itv  was  strong,  and  the  spirit  of  uniformity  so  ruled  that 
a  lofty  son  of  England  was  fain  to  cry  out — 

"  New  presbyter  is  but  old  priest  writ  large." 

Like  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  a  wilderness,  George 
Fox  proclaimed,  with  a  force  and  clearness  rarely 
etpialled,  the  old  truth,  old  but  ever  new,  that  God 
speaks  directly  to  every  individual  soul,  and  that  with 
this  divine  message  comes  a  personal  responsibility  that 
cannot  be  cast  oif ;  he  taught  a  personal  sense  of  divine 
communion  independent  of  church  organization  or 
regulations,  a  direct  communication  of  the  will  of  God 
that  may  not  be  unheeded  with  impunity.  He  placed 
the  whole  life  upon  one  plane,  to  be  rided  by  the  same 
laws,  to  be  guided  by  the  same  principles ;  the  loftiest 
aspirations  and  the  humblest  duties  were  to  be  alike 
governed  by  the  divine  law.  He  taught  that  men  can- 
not commit  their  consciences  into  the  keeping  of 
another  ;  that  "  they  should  trust  to  princii)les  and 
have  consefpiences  to  Go<l  ;  to  confess  their  ideal  even 
when  attainment  was  impossible." 

It  is  hard  for  us  of  the  present  day  to  believe  that 
these  truths  were  not  generally  accepted  in  I^)x's  time, 
but  that  in  upholding  them  thousands  suffered  and 
languished  in  loathsome  jails,  that  thousands  were  bur- 
dentnl  with  lieavv  fines,  some  were  banished  from  home 


32 

and  country,  some  sold  into  slavery,  some  condemned 
to  death,  experiencing  the  extreme  penalty.  In  the 
face  of  all  opposition,  of  suffering  and  of  death,  the 
Friends  held  on  their  way,  and  not  only  that,  but 
attracted  to  their  side  others  who  joined  heartily  with 
them.  By  patient  endurance  of  grievous  suffering  in- 
curred in  refusing  to  obey  the  infamous  "  Conventicle 
Act  "  in  England,  and  unrighteous  laws  in  America, 
they  were  almost  wholly  instrumental  in  winning,  not 
only  for  themselves,  but  for  all  their  fellow- citizens, 
freedom  for  the  exercise  of  religious  thought  and  wor- 
ship ;  by  the  refusal  of  Friends  who  were  tax-assessors 
to  levy  taxes  for  the  support  of  church  ministers,  a 
refusal  persevered  in,  despite  protracted  imprisonment, 
the  separation  of  church  and  State  in  Massachusetts 
was  definitely  settled  ;  and  by  steady  though  passive 
refusal  to  take  judicial  oaths  they  gained  for  all,  both 
in  England  and  America,  the  privilege  of  affirmation. 
Again,  the  value  which  Fox  and  his  followers  placed 
upon  the  individual  led  to  not  a  few  remarkable  results. 
The  universality  of  the  Avork  of  the  Holy  Spirit  not 
only  laid  a  responsibility  upon  each  individual  for  his 
own  life  and  work,  but  made  him  ready  and  earnest  to 
work  for  others.  No  one  was  too  high  to  be  addressed, 
no  one  too  low  or  too  degraded  to  be  lifted  up ;  Chris- 
tian or  unbeliever,  Turk  or  Jew,  bond  or  free,  white  or 
black,  all  were  enlightened  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
and  therefore  to  them  was  something  due  from  those 
who  might  have  greater  light,  and  who  moreover  had  a 
universal  message  to  proclaim.  The  Friend  did  not 
stop  with  generalities;  principles  must  be  carried  into 
practice,  doctrine  must  be  illustrated  by  daily  life.  So 
we  find  that  George  Fox  was  one  of  the  very  first  to 
raise  his  voice  against  the  evils  of  West  Indian  slavery, 
one  of  the  first  who  emphatically  declared  that  negroes 
should  be  treated  as  men,  urging  that  they  should  be 
dealt  with  "  mildly  and  gently  "  ;  and  without  fear  he 
told  the  slave-holders  of  Barbadoes  that  if  they  were 
in  the  condition  of  their  slaves  they  would  consider  it 
"  a  very  great  bondage  and  cruelty,"  and,  when  such  a 


33 

tliiuj;  was  almost  luikiiowu,  he  urged  a^ii'm  and  again 
that  the  (iospel  shotihl  be  ])reaehed  to  the  negro  slaves. 

In  lOSS,  on  tlie  ISth  of  the  Second  month  [Ai)ril], 
(ierman  Friends  of  ( u-rmantown  drew  up  that  ever- 
memorable  protest  against  "  traftic  in  the  bodies  of 
men,"  and  against  handling  "  men  as  cattle  "  ;  a  docu- 
ment believed  to  be  the  first  official  protest  of  any  re- 
ligious body  against  slavery.  The  leaven  worked 
slowly,  but  through  the  labors  of  Anthony  JVnezet  and 
others,  above  all,  of  John  Woolmau,  by  the  year  ITS? 
there  was  not  a  slave  in  the  possession  of  an  acknowl- 
e<lged  Friend.  How  much  members  of  the  Society 
have  since  done  against  slavery  and  on  behalf  of  the 
slave  is  a  matter  of  familiar  history. 

The  interest  taken  in  the  American  Indians  by  John 
Eliot  and  Koger  Williams,  and  the  kindly  treatment  of 
them  by  not  a  few  of  the  early  settlers  is  well  known, 
but  no  religious  body  in  America,  as  a  whole  and  as 
individuals,  except  the  Society  of  Friends,  has  always 
and  uniformly  treated  the  Indian  as  a  man  and  brother. 
George  Fox  and  his  baud  of  missionaries  preached  to 
the  hulians,  and  urged  upon  the  settlers  kindly  and 
brotherly  treatment  of  them.  It  was  reserved  for  our 
noble  and  honored  predecessor,  William  Penn,  in  this 
great  commonwealth  which  he  founded,  to  give  a 
practical  object-lesson  to  the  world  to  show  that  the  law 
of  love,  if  honestly  practiced  toward  the  red  man,  would 
be  understood  and  reciprocated,  and  that  agreements 
made  with  him,  though  not  sworn  to,  would  never  be 
broken  so  long  as  carried  out  by  the  white  man  in  that 
spirit  of  mutual  trust  and  understanding  in  which  they 
were  conceived  and  executed.  What  other  colony  has 
the  record  of  not  a  settler  killed  or  injured  by  an  Indian 
for  nearly  .seventy  years,  and  that  with  an  exposed 
frontier,  and  during  three  colonial  wars?  Not  the  least 
valual)le  lesson  then  which  the  Friend  has  taught,  has 
been  that  the  heart  of  even  the  untutored  savage  under- 
stands the  law  of  love  and  will  reciprocate  it  ;  a  fact 
true  not  only  of  colonial  days,  but  illustrated  in  suc- 
ceeding years  bv  many  examples. 


84 

William  Penn  in  his  laws  for  Pennsylvania  removed 
death  as  a  penalty  from  the  list  of  all  crimes  except 
murder  and  treason,  and  doubtless  would  not  have  ex- 
cepted these  had  it  been  possible  to  do  so,  and  he  did 
this  at  a  time  when  English  laws  made  over  two  hun- 
dred crimes  punishable  by  death.  He  also,  a  century 
before  John  Howard,  strove  to  make  the  prisons  of 
Pennsylvania  places  where  the  reformation  of  the  crim- 
inal was  to  be  aimed  at  instead  of  retaliation  for  the 
crime  committed.  It  was  Elizabeth  Fry  who  again 
awakened  the  consciences  of  Englishmen  to  the  general 
neglect  of  their  prisons,  to  the  indiscriminate  mixing  of 
prisoners,  to  the  immorality  of  their  surroundings,  and 
to  their  sufferings  in  the  prisons  in  which  they  were 
confined. 

It  was  William  Penn  who  placed  before  the  world  a 
frame  of  government  far  in  advance  of  any  others  then 
in  existence,  and  unsurpassed  for  its  moderation,  for  its 
justice,  for  its  high  ideals,  for  the  care  taken  to  secure 
the  rights  of  the  governed,  who  were  themselves,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  the  rulers.  That  this  "  Holy 
Experiment "  was  not  a  complete  success  was  due,  not 
to  any  shortcomings  in  the  plan,  but  to  the  interference 
of  the  English  government,  and  to  the  lack  of  faith  in 
those  who  lived  under  its  laws,  and  enjoyed  the  bless- 
ings of  its  free  and  liberal  provisions. 

That  war  is  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Testament  was  a  logical  conclusion  of  the  position 
taken  by  the  early  Friends,  and  the  sufferings  under- 
gone in  defense  of  this  belief  have  been  many  and 
severe.  In  Pennsylvania,  again,  we  have  the  practical 
illustration  of  a  State  founded  upon  the  principles  of 
peace,  and  of  a  government  which  existed  for  years 
without  forts,  without  cannon,  without  any  of  the  im- 
plements of  war,  and  which  lived  at  peace  with  its 
neighbors,  both  civilized  and  savage,  for  two  genera- 
tions. Arbitration  as  a  means  for  the  settlement  of 
differences  was  early  introduced  among  Friends,  and 
was  provided  for  in  Penn's  Frame  of  Government,  not 
only  as  between  citizen  and  citizen,  but  also  as  between 


35 


Iiuliaii  iiiul  white.  So  sure  was  the  ^rcat  man  that 
this  princi|)k'  was  the  true  one  for  the  settlement  of 
tlitVerenees,  tiiat  in  KJMl  he  puhlished  **An  Essay 
toward  t\\v  jtresent  and  future  i)ea('e  of  Kuropc  hy  the 
estahlishuu'nt  of  an  European  l)iet,  Parliament,  or 
Estates,"  antieipatini;  in  this  paper  most  of  the  mo(h'rn 
arj:;uments  for  international  arbitration. 

Georjre  Fox  tells  us  that  his  father  was  called 
"  Ki^htedus  (Mirister,"  on  account  of  the  purity  of  his 
life  and  the  justness  of  his  dealings.  His  greater  son, 
more  than  others  of  his  generation,  more  than  many  in 
this  our  day,  believed  in  a  rigliteousness  of  life  and 
conduct.  He  taught  that  a  man's  word  should  be  as 
good  as  his  l)ond, — nay,  was  his  bond, — and  that  in  all 
his  dealings  he  should  be  absolutely  truthful.  Friends 
imprisoned  for  conscience'  sake  were  trusted  to  march 
from  prison  to  prison,  and  from  prison  to  trial,  without 
a  guard,  on  a  simple  promise  to  a})pear.  Their  very 
persecutors  trusted  them  without  hesitation.  The  same 
principle  of  yea,  yea  ;  nay,  nay,  was  carried  into  their 
l)usiness,  and  it  was  the  Quaker  shop-keeper  who  intro- 
duced into  English  trade  the  practice  of  fixed  j)rices 
and  strict  uj)rightness  in  dealing. 

Friends  have  been  foremost  in  the  position  accorded 
to  woman  in  social  life  and  in  the  church.  Fox  early 
saw  that  the  universality  of  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit  forbade  the  exclusion  of  woman  from  any  j)art 
of  the  divine  commission,  and  so  the  share  nf  woman 
in  the  gift  of  the  ministry  of  the  Word  was  placed  upon 
an  absolute  equality  with  that  of  men,  while  in  other 
respects  to  woman  was  given  a  place  and  an  authority 
unknown  at  that  time  elsewhere.  The  re.«ult  of  this 
righteous  course  is  shown  in  the  long  list  of  women, 
from  Elizaiieth  Hooton,  George  Fox's  early  convert,  to 
the  |)rcsent  day, — women,  whose  cotnisel,  whose  works, 
and  whose  example  have  been  such  an  inspiration  to  the 
body,  and  .sooften  a  blessing  to  thecotuuuiuity  in  which 
they  iiave  lived. 

It  is  hardly  the  |)lacc  to  show  how  the  prineiples 
which  have  been  mentioned  led  to  de|K'ndencc  upon  the 


36 

Spirit  for  practical  guidance  in  matters  spiritual  and 
temporal,  to  simplicity  in  worship,  to  the  laying  aside 
of  ritual,  disuse  of  rite  and  ceremony,  and  to  absence 
of  class  distinction,  as  into  clergy  and  laity.  Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  go  further  into  particulars,  for  enough  has 
been  said  to  show  how  the  very  constitution  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  has  led  those  belonging  to  it,  not 
only  as  individuals,  but  also  as  a  body,  into  the  adop- 
tion of  great  principles  and  into  the  carrying  of  them 
out  to  a  remarkable  degree  in  daily  life  and  practice. 

What  the  Friend  has  done  has  not  been  so  much  to 
enunciate  new  truths  as  to  have  been  the  pioneer  in 
calling  attention,  by  precept  and  example,  to  old  truths 
sometimes  forgotten,  sometimes  covered  up  by  custom 
and  precedent,  sometimes  believed  to  be  impracticable 
under  the  present  constitution  of  the  world.  Because 
much  of  what  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  century 
Friends  suffered  and  died  to  gain  is  now  the  possession 
of  all,  we  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  apt  to  forget 
their  services.  It  is  the  province  of  such  occasions 
as  the  present  to  recall  what  our  forefathers  have  done 
in  order  that  we  may  be  nerved  to  perform  the  duties 
that  are  before  us,  animated  by  the  same  faith  which 
filled  their  hearts. 


37 


THK  PRESENT  WORK  OF  THE  SOCIETY 
OF  FRIENDS. 

By  Lsaac  H.  Clothier. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  two  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  this  old  luceting-house,  which  in 
its  quaint  simplicity  has  come  down  to  us  a  relic  and  a 
representative  of  hv-gonc  days, — even  the  early  days 
of  the  Society  of  Friends, — it  is  fitting  that  thos-e  who 
hold  the  faith  of  the  founders  of  that  Society  shoidd 
come  together  on  this  historic  ground  to  recall  the 
memories  of  those  early  days,  to  devoutly  rejoice 
together  in  the  possession  of  a  modest  yet  glorious  heri- 
tage, and  to  strengthen  each  other  and  dedicate  them- 
selves anew  to  the  duty  of  the  day  and  the  shaping  of 
the  future. 

This  large  company  composed  of  old  and  young,  of 
those  who  in  the  natural  order  must  soon  pass  on  to  the 
higher  life,  of  the  mature  and  middle-aged,  now  in 
full  activity,  of  the  young,  pressing  ever  onward  to 
take  their  places  ;  all  these,  the  successors  of  the  little 
company  of  Friends  who  met  here  two  hundred  years 
ago, — may  well  recall  the  memories  which  cluster  around 
these  walls,  and  with  just  pride  in  their  worthy  and 
honored  ancestry,  resolve  that  in  these  altered  times, 
and  under  new  conditions,  they  will  preserve  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Fathers,  in  their  pim})le,  steadfast  faith, 
their  heroic  devotion  to  principle,  and  in  their  conse- 
cration to  the  duty  of  their  day.  The  history  of  the 
oUl  house  and  of  our  worthy  ancestors  who  worshiped 
hencath  its  roof  has  been  well  given  in  vour  hearing; 
the  part  assigned  me  is  to  sketch  the  duty  and  influence 
of  the  Society  of  Friends  in  the  world  to-day. 

We  are  among  the  representatives  of  a  Society  which, 
though  one  of  the  smallest  in  numbers  from  its  founda- 
tion until  now,  has  yet  commanded  a  measure  of  atten- 


38 

tion  and  exercised  au  influence  in  the  world  entirely 
disproportioned  to  the  size  of  its  membership.  Reviled 
and  persecuted  first  in  England,  then  in  this  country, 
and  held  up  to  public  scorn  and  ridicule,  the  Society 
grew  while  persecution  lasted,  and  not  until  it  ceased 
did  its  growth  lessen.  But  though  never  large  in 
membership,  and  numbering  to-day  in  England  and 
America  perhaps  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thous- 
and souls,  its  influence  has  been  extraordinary  in  the 
world.  John  Bright  said :  "  I  am  a  member  of  a 
small  but  somewhat  remarkable  sect,  a  religious  body 
which  had  a  remarkable  origin,  and  in  its  early  days, 
at  least,  a  somewhat  remarkable  history.  It  is  of  all 
the  religious  sects  the  one  that  has  most  at  heart  the 
equality  and  equal  rights  of  men."  And  Gladstone 
has  lately  written  :  "  Whatever  may  be  thought  of 
Quaker  theology,  the  character  of  the  Quaker  has  left 
an  indelible  impression  upon  the  world." 

The  principles  of  the  Society  scarcely  need  to  be  re- 
stated here.  At  the  World's  Congress  of  Religions  in 
Chicago,  two  years  ago,  and  at  the  Bi-Centennial  of 
the  establishment  of  New  York  Yearly  Meeting,  the 
present  year,  at  Flushing,  terse  and  admirable  state- 
ments of  the  faith,  history,  and  work  of  the  Society 
were  made  by  our  ablest  representative  writers.  While 
we  can  hope  to  add  but  little  to  their  presentation,  it  is 
fitting  that  on  this  Anniversary  occasion  we  too  should 
recount  in  our  own  way  that  which  cannot  be  dwelt 
upon  too  often, — the  simplicity  and  sufficiency  of  the 
faith  of  the  Friends  and  its  potent  influence  on  man- 
kind by  reason  of  its  very  simplicity.  And  that  has 
been  the  corner  stone,  the  essence  of  the  faith  of  the 
Friends, — simplicity  of  faith  and  of  life. 

Throughout  all  history  the  greatest  contentious 
among  men  have  been  in  the  name  of  religion.  The 
Protestant  Reformation,  brought  about  by  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  Church,  was  a  step  in  the  direction  of  a 
purer  and  more  enlightened  religion,  but  its  great 
apostle,  Luther,  evidenced  the  intolerant  spirit  of  the 
age  by  declining  to  clasp  hands  with  the  Swiss  reformer, 


39 

Zwinijli, — though  l)»)tli  were  striving  for  the  same  rnds, 

U'causf   the    latter   could    not   lionostly   suhsirilx'  to 

everv  arliele  of"  a  romplicated  confession  of  faitli.  .lolm 
Calvin,  a  man  of  tlie  liij^licst  moral  elevation  and 
religious  fervor,  caused  Scrvetns  to  be  hurned  at  the 
stake  because  of  his  religious  opinions.  A  century  later 
(leorge  Fox  stirred  the  religious  world  with  a  revival 
t)f  the  simplic-ity  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  and  William 
Penn  proclaimed  that  for  their  religious  opinions  men 
are  responsible  to  God  alone.  The  great  advance  in 
enlightenment  since  is  evidenced  by  comparing  the 
intense  and  gloomy  theology  of  Jonathan  Edwards  early 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  or  even  that  of  Lyman 
Beecher,  nearly  a  century  later,  with  that  of  leading 
evangelical  teachers  of  the  present  day,  notably  Phillips 
Brooks  and  Lyman  Abbott.  Comjiare  P^dwards's  ex- 
pressions regarding  Original  Sin  and  his  "  Sinners  in 
the  hands  of  an  angry  God  "  with  this  recent  utterance 
of  Lyman  Abbott :  "The  bond  of  the  Church  is  love  ; 
the  Church  is  a  body  of  loyal  Christians  doing  Christ's 
work  in  Christ's  way.  The  flowers  got  into  a  disi)ute 
one  day  as  to  what  was  a  flower.  The  trailing  arbutus 
said  :  '  Nothing  is  a  flower  unless  it  has  a  vine  and 
hides  itself  under  the  leaves  ; '  and  the  tulip  said  : 
'  Nothing  is  a  flower  unless  it  grows  out  of  a  bulb  and 
puts  its  flower  head  a  little  above  the  ground  ; '  and 
the  tulip-tree  said  :  '  Nothing  is  a  flower  unless  it  has 
a  root  and  trunk  and  branches,  and  all  the  flowers  Ave 
or  six  feet  at  least  above  the  ground.'  And  the  spring 
sun  looked  down  uixm  them  and  said  :  '  Whatever  is 
fragrant  and  whatever  is  beautiful  is  a  flower.'  It  may 
hide  itself  like  the  (Quaker,  beneath  the  leaves  where 
men  cannot  Hud  it ;  and  it  may  have  the  most  elaborate 
organization  running  down  into  the  roots  of  history, 
like  the  Kpiscopal  Church  ;  and  it  may  stand  anywhere 
between  the  two: — the  flower  is  a  flower,  and  the  devout 
soul  is  a  devout  soul,  and  wherever  .souls  are  brought 
together  to  do  God's  work  in  God's  way  there  is  a 
church  of  the  living  G(k1." 

In  an   age  of   theological  complications  and   of  dis- 


40 

putations  regarding  religion,  George  Fox  felt  it  his 
mission  to  call  the  people  away  therefrom  to  the  Inner 
Light  which  lighteth  every  man  which  cometh  into  the 
world,  to  a  free  gospel  ministry,  and  to  purity  and  sim- 
plicity of  life.  Pioneers  of  reform,  no  doubt,  are  apt  to 
overdo  or  to  seem  to  overdo,  for  only  by  strong  contrasts 
can  the  minds  of  men  be  awakened.  Thus  the  early 
Friends,  protesting  both  by  speech  and  practice  against 
the  abuses  of  their  time,  were  no  doubt  in  some  instances 
fanatical.  But  the  duties  and  methods  of  one  age  are 
not  the  duties  and  methods  of  another;  and  the  stern 
war-cry  of  George  Fox  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
calling  the  people  back  to  first  principles  of  religion, 
and  the  extreme  simplicity  of  the  life  of  John  Woolman, 
a  century  later,  may  be  quite  uncalled-for  in  the  closing 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  the  two  hundred  years  which  have  elapsed  since 
the  foundation  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  the  Christian 
church  has  had  a  great  awakening.  It  has  been  often 
claimed  that  this  spiritual  revival  has  been  largely  due 
to  the  influence  of  our  Society.  How  far  this  may  be 
true  it  is  difficult  to  judge,  and  certainly  a  body  so 
small  in  number  as  ours, — compared  with  the  body 
of  the  Christian  church, — should  be  careful  not  to  claim 
too  much.  But  the  fact  remains  that  a  great  spiritual 
development  began  with  the  time  of  George  Fox,  and 
that  his  loud  call  to  a  return  to  the  simple  religion  of 
Christ,  to  attention  to  the  monitions  of  the  Inner  Light, 
was  the  forerunner  of  a  religious  enlightenment  and 
liberality  which  has  since,  despite  many  drawbacks, 
steadily  progressed  in  the  Christian  world. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  claim  that  this  small 
body  of  professing  Christians  has  been  the  leaven  which 
has  leavened  the  mass,  and  that  the  power  and  influence 
claimed  for  the  Friends,  though  not  shown  by  increase 
of  membership  or  the  controlling  influence  of  numbers, 
is  indicated  by  the  recognition  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
of  the  vital  testimonies  of  the  Society  by  nearly  all 
sects  of  professing  Christians.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
a  recognition   of  the  essential  principle  of  the  Inner 


p 


41 

Light,  of  increased  simplicity  and  liherality  (»f  faitli  as 
comjiared  with  hclii'f  in  compk'X  thi'(>h)gical  dogmas, 
and  a  disposition  to  insist  upon  ciTtain  uncomj>romising 
i)t'liefs  and  religions  ohstTvanccs,  is  now  widcsprcatl 
among  the  chun-lK'S.  IVliot"  in  the  Fatherhood  ot'tiod 
and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  in  a  practical  religion 
which  lives  its  faith,  in  an  enlightened  liherality  which 
declines  to  insist  upon  any  particular  creed  or  confession 
of  faith,  but  which  concedes  to  every  human  being  the 
absolute  right  to  his  own  belief,  insisting  only  that  the 
life  be  pure  and  void  of  oft'ense,  is  to-day  much  more 
prevalent  in  the  Christian  world  than  two  hundred,  one 
hundred,  or  even  fifty  years  ago.  What  })art  the  Society 
of  Friends  has  indeed  had  in  this  great  spiritual  and 
practical  revival  of  Christ's  kingdom  among  men  can- 
not be  precisely  stated.  But  the  fact  that  the  testimon- 
ies to  which  from  the  beginning  the  Society  has  felt 
impelled  to  call  the  world  have,  despite  many  draw- 
backs, taken  firm  root  among  the  churches,  and  that  the 
Society,  despite  its  smallness  of  numbers,  has  had  an 
influence  recognized  by  a  large  portion  of  the  Christian 
world,  is  powerful  testimony  to  the  character  and  effi- 
cacy of  its  work  among  men. 

Friends  have  Ijeen  from  the  beginning  a  peculiar 
people  ;  peculiar  in  their  style  of  dress,  in  their  attempts 
at  |)erfect  honesty  of  manner  and  of  speech,  in  their 
manner  of  silent  worship,  and  in  the  conduct  of  their 
business  meetings.  Perhaps  no  other  religious  gather- 
ings in  the  world  transact  business  in  the  same  way, 
arriving  at  decisions  not  by  j)arliamentary  usages  or  the 
vote  of  majorities,  but  by  the  general  sense  and  spirit- 
ual weight  of  the  mend)ership.  I  remember  a  quaint 
remark  (|Uoted  to  me  long  ago  by  one  of  our  most 
highly  respected  members  :  "  There  are  two  ways  of 
doing  a  thing,  the  right  way  and  the  Friends'  way."  I 
did  not  understand  this  to  imply  that  the  Friends'  way 
was  not  the  right  way,  but  that  it  was  a  peculiar  way 
of  arriving  at  correct  results. 

There  is  always  danger  in  peculiarities,  and  indul- 
gence in  them  without  sound  reasons,  so  far  from  In'ing 


42 

an  evidence  of  strength,  is  generally  a  sign  of  weakness 
and  shouli  be  most  carefully  guarded.  And  yet  the 
peculiar  method  of  Friends  in  the  transaction  of  busi- 
ness, has  been  on  the  whole  successful,  and  is  perhaps 
an  ideal  even  though  an  unattainable  system  of  govern- 
ment on  any  extended  scale. 

But  however  great  and  heroic  may  have  been  the 
work  of  the  Society  in  the  past,  it  is  not  on  work  already 
done  that  any  Society  can  repose  in  security  and  safety, 
and  it  must  be  so  especially  with  the  Society  of  Friends. 
Not  on  the  achievements  of  our  ancestors  can  we  or  our 
descendants  rest.  The  heritage  which  came  to  us  can 
only  be  transmitted  to  our  descendants  by  our  faithful- 
ness to  duty  and  to  the  work  of  our  day. 

What  is  the  work  of  the  Society  at  the  present  time  ? 
or,  as  is  sometimes  claimed,  has  its  mission  ceased  among 
men,  and  after  its  remarkable  history  shall  it  disappear 
as  an  organization  and  be  swallowed  up  by  the  other  re- 
ligious bodies  of  the  day?  Is  its  work  approaching  a 
conclusion  in  the  acceptance  of  its  original  testimonies 
by  the  Christian  Church,  or  shall  it  have  a  future  of  ac- 
tivity and  influence  even  comparable  to  its  distinguished 
history  ?  These  are  questions  which  face  us  to-day,  and 
the  answers  are  not  easily  to  be  found.  Shall  future 
history  record  that  the  career  of  the  t  ^iety  of  Friends 
was  but  an  incident  in  religious  history,  and  that  having 
stirred  the  churches  to  a  recognition  of  the  Divine  life 
in  the  soul  of  man,  and  of  the  simplicity  and  spiritual- 
ity of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  passed  away  and 
was  seen  of  men  no  more?  These  may  be  strange 
questions  to  ask  on  an  anniversary  occasion,  when 
mutual  congratulations  seem  to  be  the  duty  of  the  hour. 
But  a  time  of  rejoicing  for  past  achievement  should  also 
be  a  time  of  self-examination. 

With  a  population  perhaps  exceeding  seventy  millions 
in  this  rapidly  growing  nation,  and  a  growth  in  mem- 
bership of  nearly  all  the  great  religious  organizations 
somewhat  correspondent  thereto,  our  own  small  numbers 
have  not  increased,  but  have  remained  practically 
stationary.     While  size  of  membership  is  not  a  test  of 


4. -5 


spiritual  power,  and  "one  with  (iod  is  a  inajoritv,"  vot 
this  peculiar  ix'ople  must  show  l»y  their  works  a  rt'asoii 
lor  thiir  existence  as  a  separate  organization,  or  tliey 
must  soon  cease  to  exist  as  a  distinct  body. 

The  atje  still  needs  to  have  held  up  hofore  it  the 
staiuhird  of  a  j)ure  and  vital  religit)n,  unvextd  hy  theo- 
loi^ical  (lo<:;inas  or  by  cumbrous  outward  ceremonials.  It 
still  needs  to  have  Georfjje  Fox's  cry  "  turn  within," 
rej)eated  again  and  a»i;ain.  But  evangelical  teachers  all 
about  us  have  accoj)ted  the  call,  and  are  holding  the 
standard  up.  Where,  therefore,  lies  the  separate  work 
of  the  Friends'.'  With  an  earnest  belief  in  tiie  mission 
of  the  Society  and  a  no  less  earnest  hope  for  its  con- 
tinuance as  a  religious  force  in  the  world  of  mankind, 
I  confess  I  have  at  times  shared  a  sense  of  discourage- 
ment which  has  been  expressed  regarding  its  future. 

It  may  well  be  said  that  we  have  no  especial  mission 
of  proselytism,  that  we  do  not  care  to  add  to  our  num- 
bers, but  only  to  worship  God  in  our  own  way.  True  : 
but  evidences  of  vitality  and  of  continuance  in  the  body 
are  much  to  be  desired,  and  the  want  tiiereof,  even  the 
smallness  of  numbers  of  our  membership,  would  seem 
to  be  indicative  of  weakness  in  the  organization  as  it 
exists  to-day.  Have  we  as  a  body  outlived  our  useful- 
ness V  Are  we  ying  too  much  upon  the  i)ast,  upon 
traditions  handeu  down  from  the  early  days,  instead  of 
the  inspiration  which  comes  fresh  to  every  age? 

Let  us  consider  a  few  points.  "  Plainness  of  speech, 
behavior,  and  apparel."  This  (juaint  testimony  has  an 
association  in  our  minds  almost  of  reverence.  And  yet 
care  should  be  taken  that  its  importance  be  not  over- 
estimated, and  that  it  be  not  substituted  for  testimonies 
which  are  reallv  vital.  Plainness  of  speech  (the  "thee  " 
and  "thou  "of  the  Friends),  is  indeed  beautiful  to  hear 
as  the  language  of  affection,  but  the  old  practice  of  apply- 
ing the  pronoun  "you  "  to  jjcrsons  of  rank,  as  though 
they  were  individually  more  than  one,  and  "thee"  to 
|)ersons  of  inferior  rank — the  common  people — does 
not  now  exist.  Plainness  of  speech  should  be  under- 
stood to  mean  directne.s.s,  simplicity,  and  truthfulness  of 


44 

speech,  not  adherence  to  an  awkward  peculiarity. 
Plainness  of  behavior,  unless  perfectly  understood  and 
practiced  in  the  highest  sense,  is  even  fraught  with 
danger.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  charge  sometimes 
made  against  Friends  of  a  want  of  refinement  in  man- 
ner, has  not  been  altogether  unwarranted,  and  the  charge 
should  be  respectfully  considered.  As  a  protest  against 
rapidly  changing  fashions  and  extravagance  of  dress, 
plainness  of  apparel  is  still  a  valuable  testimony.  Yet 
we  cannot  but  regard  the  adherence  to  any  particular 
style  of  dress  as  a  departure  from  true  simplicity.  All 
these  testimonies  are  still  valuable.  But  a  rigid  adher- 
ence to  a  narrow  formality  in  regard  to  them  is  not  in 
correspondence  with  the  enlightenment  of  the  age,  nor 
with  the  vital  spirit  of  true  Quakerism. 

The  testimony  against  music  would  seem  to  need 
careful  consideration.  Fifty  years  ago  almost  every 
form  of  melody,  vocal  or  instrumental,  was  regarded 
among  Friends  almost  as  a  device  of  the  evil  one.  To- 
day music  in  its  proper  place  is  recognized  by  a  large 
portion  of  the  Society  as  elevating  and  refining  in  its 
tendency,  and  is  profitably  used  in  many  of  our  homes. 
Again,  some  Friends  still  need  to  be  reminded  of  the 
broadening  and  elevating  influences  of  higher  educa- 
tion, and  in  some  quarters  there  is  a  want  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  benefits  which  undoubtedly  spring  therefrom 
and  of  the  influence  upon  the  future  of  the  Society. 
Higher  education  is  a  necessity  of  the  age.  Will  Friends 
avail  of  its  beneficent  influence  under  their  own  guarded 
care,  or  shall  our  young  people  be  driven  to  seek  it  in 
other  folds  ? 

These  matters  are  referred  to  not  in  any  spirit  of 
undue  criticism,  but  in  that  of  inquiry,  and  with  a  sin- 
cere desire  to  aid,  if  possible,  in  strengthening  the  weak 
places  in  our  midst.  But  I  would  not  dwell  upon  that 
side  of  the  picture.  On  the  other  side  there  are  evi- 
dences of  the  development  of  a  living  spirit  among  us, 
which  may  yet  bear  fruit  to  the  renewal  of  our  life. 
The  First-day  school  work,  a  growth  of  the  past 
twenty-five  years,  and  the  Young  Friends'  Associations, 


i    1 

* 

■  ^^'"^ 

45 

of  (|iiito  rcivnt  origin,  arc  most  {'iicou raging  evidt'iic-e.s 
of  Cliristiaii  vitality  among  us.  The  study  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  true  spirit  of  rovorenco  and  of  int<'lli- 
gent  research,  as  wi'Il  as  of  the  testimonies  of  Friends, 
should  be  most  diligently  commended. 

Let  us  ever  hold  up  before  our  children  the  cardinal 
testimony  of  our  faith — the  simplicity  of  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Inner  Light,  the  Divine  Imman- 
ence, the  divinity  of  Christ  in  the  soul  of  man.  Let 
us  impress  upon  them  the  beauty  and  sacredness  of  silent 
worship — the  gathering  together  in  a  meeting  ca|)acity 
in  a  living  silence,  in  the  midst  of  which  (Jod  speaks  to 
the  soul  as  never  man  spake. 

Let  us  bear  testimony  to  the  value  of  a  free  gospel 
ministry.  Let  us  cherish  it  as  a  testimony  to  simplicity 
in  religious  service  and  as  a  reminder  of  apostolic  times 
and  practices.  And  let  us  live  ]»lainly,  not  in  the  spirit 
of  asceticism,  but  in  prudent  accordance  with  our  several 
circumstances,  making  proper  use  of  the  comforts  and 
refinements  which  the  age  has  brought  us,  ever  re- 
membering our  duty  towards  those  not  so  well  situated 
in  outward  circumstances  as  ourselves,  and  affording  a 
proper  example  to  others  as  opposed  to  extravagant  and 
ostentatious  living. 

If  we  are  to  maintain  our  position  and  increase  our 
influence  in  the  world,  we  must  continue  to  show  our 
faith  by  our  works.  Friends  in  the  past  have  in  their 
quiet  wav  led  in  Christian  labor  among  mankind.  The 
great  anti-slavery  movement  was  antedated  nearly  a 
hundretl  years  l)v  the  quiet  lal)ors  of  John  Woolman 
and  Anthony  Benezet.  In  the  cause  of  Peace,  of  the 
Indian,  of  Temperance,  of  Prison  Reform,  of  the  equal 
rights  of  women.  Friends  have  been  among  the  leaders. 
S<^  great,  however,  is  the  general  activity  in  thes(>  latter 
days,  that  we  are  certainly  no  more  than  abreast  of  the 
Christian  movements  of  the  times  towards  the  uplifting 
of  the  human  race.  To  maintain  and  increase  our 
vitality  we  must  at  least  have  nur  full  share  in  the 
Christian  movements  of  the  age. 

I    beliive    the    Work    of  this    periiliar    people   is  not 


46 

ended.  On  the  contrary,  although  I  anticipate  no  con- 
siderable accession  to  its  numbers,  I  believe  there  is  still 
a  distinct  work  for  it  in  the  world.  This  work  cannot 
be  delegated  to  others.  It  is  the  peculiar  service  of  the 
Society  of  Friends.  It  is  their  mission  in  the  world. 
Add  to  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Inner  Light 
their  testimonies  to  silent  worship,  to  a  free  gospel  min- 
istry, and  to  simplicity  of  life,  surely  the  Society  has 
still  a  wondrous  call  to  continued  service  in  the  vine- 
yard of  the  Lord. 

And  appreciating  the  great  heritage  earned  for  us  by 
the  fathers  and  mothers  of  our  faith,  first  through  per- 
secution and  martyrdom,  then  through  two  hundred 
years  of  the  highest  Christian  example  to  mankind, 
shall  we  not  hold  it  ever  dear  and  say  to  our  children 
and  our  children's  children — "  This  Society  was  founded 
on  a  rock  and  it  endures." 


POEM. 
\\\    1'i:an(  IS  B.  (iiMMKUi:. 

Tlu'V  l^'ard  a  voice  of  ruiu  on  the  wind. 

And  vengeful  fingers  Hashed  about  the  .<ky 
Omens  of  terror.     "  From  the  wrath  behind, 

Save  us,  Jehovah  !  "  rose  our  fathers'  cry. 

"  Look,  Lord,  our  liands  are  bleeding  where  they  cling 
Along  the  sharp  edge  of  Thy  mercy-seat ; 

Our  heads  are  in  the  dust,  and  still  we  sing 
Amid  our  choking,  fallen  at  Thy  feet !  " 

God  rolled  apart  the  portals  of  the  sea, 

And  pointed  down  the  long  Athmtic  wave  : 

"  In  yonder  wilderness  is  peace  with  Me." 

"  Peace,  then,"  they  answered,  "  though  it  be  a  grave. 

"  Forth  from  the  ruins  of  a  broken  dream. 

Out  of  the  shadow  of  memorial  fear, 
Yonder,  O  brother!  Let  the  north  wind  scream, 

The  billows  threaten,  still  the  Light  is  clear. 

"The  Light  that  led  against  embattled  priests, 
Ranks  girded  only  with  the  sword  of  love. 

The  Light  that  cheered,  even  when  amid  the  beasts 
Of  Ephesus  our  saints  and  martyrs  strove." 

Peace  in  the  wilderness  those  fathers  sought. 
Where  through  its  vales  the  silent  river  Hows  ; 

Peace  in  the  wilderne.ss  they  found,  and  taught 
The  wilderness  to  blossom  as  the  rose. 

ICven  vet  the  forest,  yet  the  dales  and  rills, 
Hamlet  or  farmstead,  all  unknown  to  fame. 

Breathe  the  old  beauty  of  the  Cand)rian  hills 
And  bin<l  us  with  the  magic  of  a  name. 

Ah,  dearer  still  the  magic  and  the  power 

Sprung  from  that  simple  round  of  birth  and  death  ! 

Dearest  of  all  they  left  us  be  the  dower 
Of  virtue,  honor,  fearlessness,  and  faith! 


48 


Strong-souled,  O  fathers,  bred  amid  the  shock 
Of  falling  kingdoms  and  our  new  time's  throe, 

Wearing  your  robe  of  meekness  as  a  rock 

That  fronts  the  storm-winds  in  his  fleece  of  snow, 

And  ye,  O  nameless  ones,  that  set  the  sail 

In  some  dreamed  haven  God's  far  tryst  to  keep, 

And  with  his  Yi^ht  upon  your  faces  pale, 
Clasping  a  virgin  hope,  sank  in  the  deep, — 

Breath  faith  upon  us  !     For  the  dusk  is  falling, 
The  stars  ye  followed  vanish  from  our  sight ; 

Scarcely  we  hear  the  leader's  trumpet  calling : 
So  leave  us  not  amid  the  gathering  night. 

Not  like  some  lonely  fisher  whom  the  wars 
Of  wind  and  flood  have  left  without  a  sail, 

What  time  the  mist  has  blotted  all  the  stars, 
And  waves  are  chafing  to  the  angry  gale, — 

He  clasps  the  helm,  he  knows  not  where  to  turn  ; 

Behind,  before,  the  white  and  sibilant  foam  ; 
Vain,  vain  for  him  the  harbor  beacons  burn 

And  little  voices  call  him  to  his  home! 

But  let  the  light  that  led  your  hero-band 
Shine  on  for  us,  or  sun  or  pillar  of  fire. 

Piercing  the  mists  that  veil  a  promised  land 
And  cheat  the  Spirit  of  its  last  desire, — 

That  we  may  follow  where  a  herald  beam 

Shall  light  the  coast  of  faith's  new  hemisphere. 

Forth  from  the  ruins  of  a  broken  dream. 
Out  of  the  shadow  of  memorial  fear. 


4<) 


CLOSING   EXERCISES. 

At  the  dose  of  tlio  exercises  a  silence  fell  iijion  tli<»se 
asscnihlcd,  whii-li  was  l)n>k('ii  l)y  words  of  prayer  and 
tluiuksgiving  by  Matilda  E.  Janney.  Tlie  nieetinir 
then  closed,  the  people  scattered  about  the  grounds  or 
returned  to  their  homes,  feeling,  wo  trust,  that  it  was 
good  to  have  been  there. 


Although  tlie  exercises  under  tlie  care  of  the  com- 
mittee ended  on  the  afternoon  of  Tenth  month  Sth,  the 
usual  First-day  morning  meeting  was  held  in  the  old 
meeting-house  on  the  following  day,  and  was  a  solemn 
and  impressive  occasion. 

In  the  afternoon  a  mcvtiui;  appointed  by  the  Visit- 
ing Committee  of  lMiiladeli)liia  (Quarterly  Meeting  was 
held.  The  numl)er  present  being  more  than  the  meet- 
ing-house could  accommodate,  the  mwting  was  assem- 
bled in  the  tent  used  (»u  the  previous  day.  Testimony 
was  borne,  ineitiug  those  present  to  faithfidness  in  up- 
liolding  the  ))rinciple.s  and  testimonies  of  our  Religious 
Society,  especially  our  faith  in  the  immediate  revela- 
tion of  the  Divine  Will  to  the  <-hihlren  of  men. 


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